Greetings from the Grave
by Magda the Magpie
Summary: Strange events take place in the infamous graveyard where Voldemort resurrected. Of course it's up to Hermione to sort out that mess after 19 years of negligence, but a ghost from the past kidnaps her to a world with a different kind of magic.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Curse my luck, the dice rolled: Cedric Diggory + 19 years later...**

**But you know what? I'm glad they did, or I never would have come up with this. And I might actually continue it, having never played around with the Twilight fandom before!**

* * *

No one had returned to the graveyard that had seen Voldemort reborn, not since a hasty cleanup of the desolate place by a team of aurors. That, in retrospect, had been a mistake. After the liberal amount of dark magic that had flooded the quaint little muggle graveyard; potions, blood and forbidden rituals and residual curses soaking the earth, unforeseen incidents were bound to happen.

It started a couple of years after the war with that terribly tacky statue of Death cosplaying as the reaper who wandered off down to the local pub for a pint. Thankfully, by then, more muggleborns were working in the Ministry and the cover up had been easy. No obliviations necessary.

"They're just shooting a movie. Yeah, mad makeup skills! Couldn't agree more, mate. Here, have another pint. It's on the house!"

To be fair, everyone thought it had been a prank, muggle-baiting at worse. In bad taste, sure, but pretty harmless in the end, so no inquiry had been opened.

The next incidents had been blamed solely on muggles. It was only fires and strange lights after all. The muggles blamed aliens all on their own and the Ministry of Magic was fine with that and ignored the subsequent reports. They were piling up somewhere in between the muggle-liaison office and the MLE department, year after year, gathering dust, towering higher and higher until one day, nineteen years after the end of the war, Unspeakable Hermione Granger stumbled on her way out from Harry's office, bumped into the dusty files and was buried under. Harry laughed, the ungrateful berk, so Hermione conjured bluebell-flame-birds to harass him for the rest of the day in retaliation.

"What the hell is all this?" she muttered as she started gathering the files.

She had intended to simply file them back where they belonged, but she became increasingly worried as she read the contents, and shrunk the lot to fit in her pocket so she could peruse everything down in her office.

One week later, Hermione was standing on the path leading to the graveyard Harry had told her about once, what seemed like a lifetime ago. It was a lifetime ago, she supposed, almost twenty years, and most everyone she knew had settled down with job and family. She sighed. She had her career at least, which is exactly why she was here.

Something was wrong with this graveyard. They should have sent an Unspeakable ages ago, and she had been flabbergasted when she discovered everyone had just swept these incidents under the carpet instead.

"Irresponsible fools," she muttered, trudging on with her wand held out.

Everything was quiet, mist clinging on to the branches of the trees lining the path and swirling around the headstones when she approached the graveyard. The site was old, falling to pieces as nature reclaimed its rights, but it was beautiful in a way.

She found the place Voldemort's resurrection ritual had taken place easily enough. The place reeked of dark magic, but it was concentrated in one perfect circular patch of darkened earth. As round as a cauldron, she supposed. Hermione tried everything she could think of to understand this anomaly, but had to give up after several hours of complete and utter failure.

She resolved to wait instead. With the amount of sightings that had been reported from here, something was bound to happen sooner or later. She conjured a sofa and took out a book in the meanwhile, glancing around every now and then, until she noticed mist gathering in an unnatural way over the anomaly. It took on the shape of a snowman, but seemed unable to hold its form. Hermione rolled her eyes. If she had come all the way out here because of a bothersome poltergeist stuck in between, she was going to exorcise the ectoplasm out of it. Poking her wand at the amassed mist, she infused it with a burst of magic, then looked on with mild annoyance as the shape did become more and more human.

"Finally," it muttered back.

Hermione recoiled, because despite the years, she knew that voice, she knew that face…

"Cedric?" she squeaked.

"Ah. Hermione. Should have known it would be you. Although I have to admit I am a bit disappointed in Harry." Cedric glanced around. "He's not here?"

Hermione shook her head. This… thing, whatever he really was, didn't make any sense. He looked like Cedric Diggory, a little older maybe, had his voice, but talked with a sardonic edge to it that hadn't been there before. She took a step back, passing through her mind everything she had read about demons and possessions.

"Wait!" Maybe-Cedric pleaded. "Don't go. I've been trying to get into contact with someone here for so long."

Trying to appeal to her curiosity and desire to help, as any smart demon would. She took another step back when the creature's hand shot out to stop her and suddenly, it was as if the world flipped upside down, like a pancake, and she landed on her arse in a very sunny but familiar graveyard. She glanced down at her arm where a very solid hand still held on, bruising her skin. Cedric let go, a horrified expression on his stupidly perfect face, babbling a string of apologies she couldn't make head nor tails of.

Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose, used as she was to deal with idiots.

"What have you done?" she huffed.

"Pulled you back with me?"

"And where is this?"

"It's like home, only it's not?"

"And I suppose there isn't a way back?"

"Well…"

"Other than haunting an old graveyard."

Cedric shook his head.

"Not that I know of. But maybe you can find a way?"

Hermione snorted.

"I'm smart, I'm not a miracle-dispenser." She sighed. "Fine. I'll try. Not like I have a choice anyway. But can you tell me something?"

Cedric nodded eagerly, probably relieved she wasn't hexing his arse sideways.

"Why the hell are you sparkling?"

Cedric grinned in answer, his teeth a bit too sharp, his canines a bit too pointy.

"Oh, bugger," she muttered, cursing her luck.


	2. Chapter 2

"I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you're not a giant fairy, so… What are you?" Hermione asked, voice and eyes full of suspicion as she kept her wand aloft between them.

"I won't hurt you," Cedric said, hands raised in surrender.

But those hands sparkled like mad as they caught a ray of sun through the trees branches. It was as if he was made entirely of diamonds, except his eyes which glowed liked ambers. He was even more beautiful than he used to be, but it was an unnatural beauty that made her feel uneasy, as if he was too good to be true.

"Is it Voldemort's ritual that… changed you?"

"No. Not the way you think. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what happened that night in the graveyard. It was so sudden, but I died… Right?"

Hermione nodded.

"Harry never forgave himself. He brought your body back to your parents, like you asked-"

"My parents… That's why I was trying to reach through the portal. I wanted them to know I'm well, and not to worry for me."

She couldn't help the way she tensed, or the twist of her lips.

"Are they…"

"The war broke soon after you… disappeared. Your father fought fiercely. He was hell bent on avenging your death from what Arthur told me. Your mother… I think she died of a broken heart. I'm sorry, Cedric."

He shook his head, showing no emotions on his perfect face, as if it was carved out of stone. Hermione didn't dare question him anymore on his nature after delivering him such devastating news. Glancing up every now and then at her silent, unmoving companion, she set up a camp made purely out of transfiguration, having stopped walking around with a tent in her beaded bag a long time ago. She would have to think of a way to get food eventually, but at least she had a place to sleep while she studied the Anomaly from this side. Cedric called it a portal but the passageway certainly didn't act like one. It was more of a one way street from what she could glean about its flux in energy, eagerly snatching people from the other side but reluctant to let them go. But was that due to the nature of the anomaly, or the nature of this world? She could already feel the weight of so many questions laying heavily on her shoulders, but she didn't have a choice since she was stuck here until she solved this riddle, and so, she began studying it in earnest, as scientifically as magic would allow.

Time got away from her, as usual when she started a project, so she was surprised to find a steaming plate of steak, fries and vegetables thrust under her nose. Blinking up at Cedric, she was even more surprised to find he wasn't sparkling anymore now that the sun had set, although that made sense now that she thought about it.

"How did you…"

She looked around, looking for lights that would indicate a house nearby, but found none. The graveyard on this side seemed as isolated as it was on hers.

"Magic?"

Hermione chuckled because he had been a very smart student and couldn't possibly have forgotten about Gawp's laws forbidding the transfiguration of food.

"Alright. Be all mysterious if you want. Aren't you eating, too?"

"I ate earlier," he replied with a mischievous air about him. "But go ahead. Would you like some coffee too. Or tea?"

"Tea would be nice, but how…"

She trailed off, confused. She had only looked at her plate for a second and Cedric had disappeared without a sound again.

"Creepy," she uttered under her breath.

The food was good though. Hot and tasty and just what she needed to keep working through the night. She wasn't sure it would be enough. In fact, she feared she wouldn't have enough of a lifetime to understand the anomaly. The readings she got from it were contradictory, not to mention her speciality as Unspeakable was Time. Maybe if she had worked in the Space Room instead, she would have a better understanding of this thing. She groaned in annoyance, but it was cut off by the sudden appearance of a large mug of tea.

"How do you do that?!"

Once more, she had failed to hear him arrive, or find out where he went for food.

"Magic?"

"I'd know if you were a wizard. I'm still waiting to hear your story when you're up for it." He looked hesitant. "It might help me understand the anomaly," she added, pointing at the perfect round, dark circle. She would call it a black hole if it wasn't looking so innocent sitting amongst the clover and what she was pretty sure was squirrel droppings.

"And how did no one find this thing? I bet its should-ducking darkness is visible from space."

Cedric pointed at a nearby mausoleum. Puzzled at his meaning af first, she soon followed the dragmarks from the ugly piece of gothic architecture to the black hole.

"You're kidding," she deadpanned.

It was a small family mausoleum, but even so, it had to weigh several tons. She doubted she could move it with her magic, and he was telling her he did it with his bare hands? She knew he had no magic anymore. In fact, she doubted he was even human now, but she didn't know of any creature with that much strength apart from giants, which he was definitely not.

"I'm confused," she admitted. "Talk."

Cedric gave a wry smile.

"Harry used to say you were bossy, but I never realized how much."

She crossed her arms and stared him down, or up, as the case may be. He hadn't aged much but he was still much taller than she was. But if he hoped to make her change subjects so easily, he had another thing coming.

"There's a time discrepancy with this portal. When I came through it was 1918."

Hermione balked at the idea then looked around her with new eyes, looking for any clue that she was still in her present time, if not dimension, but most of the dates on the surrounding graves were worn to the point she couldn't read them. However, Cedric could not be over a hundred… unless… "How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

His smile was sad and a bit mischievous.

"And how long have you been seventeen?"

"87 years."

Hermione winced. Talk about a discrepancy. Cedric was _old_, yet still looked like the boyish Hufflepuff heartthrob. He had been turned into an immortal then. A teenager for all eternity. Poor bloke just couldn't catch a break. But that didn't leave many options as to his nature. Despite the differences to the creatures she was used to in her world, he could only be a vampire. It would explain the sharp teeth, but not much else. She recalled his offhand comment earlier and froze, her wand held defensively between them once more.

"You said you ate earlier?"

"Relax. I'm a vegetarian."

She snorted despite herself, trying to picture him sinking his fangs into a tree or carrot.

"And how does a vampire achieve that exactly?"

"Vegetarian by vampire standards. I only prey on animals."

"You're very different from the vampires in our world."

"You have no idea. There is no wizarding world here. I always wondered if maybe that influenced how vampires evolved."

Hermione nodded in thought. It might explain why the portal did not act the same way depending on what side you were on too, or why time seemed to flow differently.

"So this is… 2005?" she asked.

"Yes. I don't mean to sound rude, but you seem quite a bit older than I expected."

"2017 on our side. Quite a bit older? Still a cheeky little sod, aren't you?"

Cedric laughed, the sound as melodious as his voice. Nothing like the glum, guttural vampires she had met.

"Are all vampires here like you?"

"More or less," Cedric confirmed. "Pale, strong, fast, beautiful," he waggled his eyebrows and she blushed despite herself. "Some of us have gifts. I can read minds, for example."

Hermione paled, all the blood draining from her face at some of the things she had been thinking. His laugh did not make her feel better.

"Don't worry. I can't hear you most of the time. Occlumency?"

Hermione sighed in relief then slammed her Occlumency shields tighter because he had said _most of the time, _meaning she had slipped, letting her guard down. Far from being put out, Cedric seemed to approve of her defensiveness.

"It's a relief actually, being around you. Hearing what everyone thinks all the time… It's enough to give even a vampire a headache."

"Ha! Is that why you're hanging around?"

"Yes and no. You don't expect me to leave you to fend for yourself when it's my fault you're stuck here, do you?"

"I suppose that wouldn't be very Hufflepuff of you, no."

"I hope you figure the portal out, but if you don't… Well, I'm as close to family as you'll get here. I'll take care of you for as long as you need."

"I hope you don't expect me to call you Uncle Cedric," she grimaced. "No offense, but you look like a kid."

"Ah, occlumency cuts off the allure too?"

His comment surprised her, but he was right. She didn't find him half as attractive as she had before slamming her occlumency shields down. She still found him beautiful but in the way she would find a statue beautiful. There was no attraction there, thank Merlin. She thought she had suddenly turned into some sort of pervert. She nodded at Cedric in answer.

"I think I'll call you Auntie Hermione though," he teased once more, making her roll her eyes.

She had been called so much worse. At least Cedric seemed to mean it in an affectionate way. She was a sort of long lost relative after all. She could feel he was changing the subject once more, but she had learned a lot during that short exchange. Time and magic flow was different here, and Cedric didn't seem to believe she could make it back to the other side. He had been subtle about it, trying to reassure her, but his doubts weighed heavily on her heart.

Two days later, Hermione was literally cursing the anomaly. The darn thing wouldn't yield, and it was worse in her case. Cedric could at least still reach through to the other side, even if that proved just as useless in the end.

He seemed surprised to learn that his attempts to reach out to them had sent a statue down to the pub or set trees on fire.

"The anomaly must change the nature of your intent the way it does time and magic. On the bright side, that means you're not responsible for kidnapping me. However, that also makes our task of communicating with the other side next to impossible, unless we can make something to protect-"

"Lead." Cedric said simply.

Hermione hummed in thought then gave a sharp nod of her head at his insight.

"Lead." she agreed.

It was used a a shield for most outside interference, including magic. It seemed too good to be true, but it was worth a try. Hermione started penning a letter, asking Cedric if he wanted to add anything, looking up from her sheet of paper only when he gave no answer.

"Cedric?"

She sighed. Once more with the vanishing act. Honestly, it was starting to get on her nerves and she was going to put a bell on him. At least that way she would know when he left and reappeared. She spelled her letter, making it as impervious as she could. She almost didn't squeak when a loud thud announced Cedric's return. She had been expecting him after all. Although the lump of dull metal was a surprise and she didn't dare ask where he had taken all that lead from on such short notice.

"Do you want to write a message to anyone?"

"No. I only had my parents. Everyone else… I guess they moved on…"

"I did inform Harry about you, I hope you don't mind."

"No, of course not," he replied as he beat the metal with his bare hands into a small box, scratching "To Harry Potter" into the lid with his nail. Just what was he made of? But after some consideration, he did add a small, hastily-scribbled note to the box.

"I've had no luck getting through," she told Cedric once the letter was safely sealed. "Would you mind…"

"I'll do my best," he promised, tucking the lead box under his arm.

Kneeling at the edge of the anomaly, he let his upper body dive in, head first, before his arms reached into it, holding the box tightly. From her side, it seemed as if nothing was happening. Cedric appeared to be cut in two and she was glad she had secured the perimeter, making it unplottable or she wasn't sure what anyone would make of the sight. An hour later, Cedric had not moved an inch and she was worried sick she had hurt him. All her poking about the anomaly might have changed it somehow…

She sat at his side, a silent vigil, counting the hours, two, three… Until he finally moved, sat up and grinned at her.

"It's done," he said as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

Hermione gave a weak chuckle, then threw herself into his arms, only half surprised to find his body as hard and cold as granite.

"What's wrong?" Cedric asked stiffly as he patted her back awkwardly.

"You've been gone _for hours," _she said, trying not to sound as desperate as she had felt.

"Oh, yeah… That happens. Sorry. I should have warned you. Could you…" He pushed her back. "Sorry. It's just that you smell good. I should probably go hunting and then… Will you come with me?"

"Where to?"

"Home. I have…" he looked sheepish and ducked his head before finishing. "School."

Hermione had never laughed so hard in her life.


	3. Chapter 3

Hermione had to resign herself to the idea she couldn't return to her own world just yet, not without outside help. So she accepted Cedric's offer and resolved to study this world in the meanwhile. It's not like she would be overly missed since she had no family nor boyfriend back home. Harry would miss her, she knew, but he had Ginny and the kids to think about. He would be fine without her help if he used that brain of his now and then.

"You're sure your enchantments will hold until we return?" Cedric asked once more.

"Don't be insulting. Besides, if we want them to be able to answer, blocking the anomaly with a ruddy mausoleum isn't very conducive to that aim."

"Granted. And the portkey?"

"If you're absolutely certain the geography of both worlds is _exactly_ the same…"

Cedric nodded.

"A carbon copy."

"Then we are ready to go. It's kind of exciting using an illegal, long distance portkey," she confessed.

Not having to abide by the Statute of Secrecy or any other International Law made everything so much easier. "First stop, New York City!"

It took a couple of jumps after that to make it all the way to Seattle. Hermione had never been so glad she had travelled a lot as an Unspeakable on the other side, otherwise, this trip with Cedric would have been a lot more problematic since she did not exist in this world and had neither papers, nor money. She might as well be a ghost.

In Seattle, Cedric told her to climb on his back and hold on tight. From that point on, Hermione was pretty sure she had been screaming her head off all the way to the place he had called Forks. She punched him in the shoulder as soon as he let her slide down his back onto her wobbly legs, but she regretted it immediately, shaking her hand in the air when it felt like she had just punched a brick wall.

"I'm never piggy-back riding you again," she muttered, freezing when she heard a melodious chuckle behind her.

Turning around slowly, she saw a magnificent house first, then a veritable tribe of vampires with various degrees of amusement painted on their pale, perfect faces. Cedric's new family. Hermione stopped gesticulating, smoothing down her hair and robes in the hopes she was marginally more presentable after spending several days out in the wild before speeding across the countryside like a rocket.

She bowed, as was custom in the wizarding world when meeting the head of vampire clan. The older looking vampire still looked younger than her, physically at least, and despite her occlumency shield, he radiated kindness. Hermione stood silently, waiting for Cedric to introduce her, but one of his siblings beat him to it.

"I didn't know you liked them older. It's hot!"

The stunning blond at his side stepped hard on his foot with her heel, making the giant of a vampire wince.

"We barely had time to prepare for your guest," the smallest of them all, a tiny brunette with spiked hair, added with a moue of disappointment. "I only saw you appear suddenly in New York with your new friend in tow."

Hermione gaped in surprise. She had _seen_ them? In his cryptic way, Cedric had mentioned others of his kind having "gifts" but she had imagined other mind readers, not seers. Oh, but this adventure on the other side was more interesting than anything else she had been studying this last decade or so.

"Maybe we should take this conversation inside?" the head of the family asked, staring at her with undisguised interest.

Hermione gulped, very conscious she was about to step into a closed area full of vampires, a couple of which seemed downright hostile to her presence, but she trusted Cedric, and he had promised her protection in this world, even if he did it out of some misguided guilt at having brought her here. Hermione had been the one poking at a magical mystery with absolutely no idea of what it was and no back up to boot. If she hadn't been sucked into this world, she might have died from the magical backlash, or worse, been fired from the Ministry for gross incompetence.

Once everyone was settled around the large sitting area, so white and pristine, it hurt her eyes, Cedric was finally able to introduce her.

"I went to England, as you know, and successfully made contact with the other side this time… But I accidentally brought back an old schoolmate, Hermione Granger. Hermione, this is my family. My parents, Carlisle and Esme, and my siblings, Rosalie and Emmett, Alice and Jasper."

He said it in a way that left no doubt that they were paired off, and she had to wonder where Cedric's better half was. She nodded or smiled at each of them in turn depending on how warm their own greeting was. It was Rosalie and Jasper who seemed the most standoffish.

"You mean…" Carlisle asked with hesitation looking at Cedric, before addressing her directly. "You're a witch?"

Hermione smiled and nodded. Cedric had been very cagey about his life in this world, and had decided to leave before she could ask him about his new home and family, putting her in their midst before she could think better of it.

"There's no such thing," the one called Emmett snorted.

Hermione raised an eyebrow in challenge before turning their table into a pig, letting it wander off to sniff at the carpet. She bit back her smug smile as they all stared at the pink swine invading their kitchen without a word. It was as shocked as they were going to look, she knew.

"I liked that table," Esme sighed.

"It'll turn back," Hermione promised, a bit abashed at her heavy handedness.

"I like the pig better. Is it edible?" Emmett asked with a wicked grin.

Hermione knew she was going to get along with this vampire at the very least. He reminded her a bit of George with all his joking about.

"I thought you were insane," Rosalie said, looking at Cedric. "All that stuff about magic and wizards from another world…"

Hermione scowled at the pretty blonde. How long had she known Cedric exactly? He wasn't the sort to lie just for the sake of lying. But far from being angered by her words, they seemed to boost Cedric's confidence.

"I invited Hermione to stay with us for a while, if that's alright with you all."

"Can we trust her?" Jasper asked, talking for the first time.

"Technically, she's more at a risk than us, and her kind are used to hiding from humans. They blend in much better than we do, in fact." Cedric said.

"I would never put any of you at risk," Hermione promised. "And I'll be out of your hair as soon as I can. It's just that I don't know anyone else here…"

She trailed off, feeling silly. Hermione hated being such an imposition. She could have managed on her own, but the loneliness had been too daunting to contemplate and Cedric's offer too tempting to refuse.

"It's fine, dear," Esme said, her voice soft and comforting as she put an arm around her. "We're not used to having guests, as you can imagine, but I, for one, am delighted to meet one of my son's old school friends."

Her declaration seemed to clear the matter and everyone relaxed slightly.

"Even if they do turn my furniture into farm animals," she added with a disapproving glance at the fat pig which was letting Emmett give it a belly rub, emitting soft snorts of appreciation.

"So how was Edward as a human?" Carlisle asked.

"Edward?" Hermione asked in confusion.

"Oh, I, uhm, changed my name when I… changed. I didn't know yet if there was another Cedric Diggory running around and didn't want to get him in trouble if there was, so I improvised."

"Cedric," Rosalie snorted inelegantly before covering her mouth in dismay.

"It's pretty bad," Jasper agreed.

"Your name is _Jasper," _Cedric muttered in reply, and Hermione thought he had a point there but… Well, _her_ name was Hermione so she didn't think she had a leg to stand on. She coughed politely to stop the teasing though.

"_Edward_," she said pointedly, receiving a grateful nod from Cedric, "Was the school's sweetheart and poster boy. He was the Hufflepuff's prefect, the House of the loyal and hard working, and also the school's Triwizard champion, which means even magic chose him as the best our kind had to offer. I didn't get a chance to know him well, but I know he was open minded and always lent an ear to whoever needed a talk."

Carlisle nodded.

"That's very interesting. Would you say it's an accurate description?" he asked Cedric.

"I suppose. Hermione has always been too kind for a Gryffindor though, so I'd take it with a grain of salt."

"Gryffindor?"

"The House of the stupidly brave," Hermione answered truthfully.

"Fight first, wonder if it was a good idea later," Cedric reminisced and Hermione laughed because that resumed all her years at Hogwarts quite well.

"Any good in a fight?" Emmett asked with a joyful gleam in his eyes.

Hermione looked the mountain of muscles up and down and scoffed.

"You wouldn't last a minute against me."

"You're on, witch!"

"Maybe not now?" Cedric intervened. "She's been travelling all day, it wouldn't be a fair fight."

"Tomorrow then," Emmett pressed, offering his hand.

Hermione shook it, or tried to, but all she could do was try not to wince as he pressed hers into his bear sized paws. She was going to have to be extra sneaky if she wanted to make it out in one piece. Cedric then dragged her up to the stairs with Alice and Emmett still trailing behind them, asking more questions about him, her, and magic in general, until Cedric slammed his door in their faces. He stared at the door, then the floor, and sighed.

"Alice has laid out an outfit for you in the bathroom and Esme is cooking you dinner. I guess you won't escape them so easily."

Hermione chuckled.

"I don't mind. I was a regular at the Burrow, you know. They can't possibly be more overbearing than the Weasleys."

Cedric made a face that said they might be.

"Do you have any idea how many redheads there were by the time I left? Because I never managed to count them all. That place was a circus. A very loud, messy and explosive circus."

"You have a point," he conceded.

She looked around his room curiously. It was tasteful and orderly. Literature and music were two passions of his that she could see, but she also noted the absence of a bed, the lack of which was quite obvious when standing in the middle of a bedroom.

"Where do you sleep?"

"I don't."

"Never? Not even in a coffin sort of way?"

"No," he chuckled. "I'm very glad this side's vampires have nothing in common with the other side's."

"Garlic, mirrors, holy water, stakes?"

She could swear she heard laughter from downstairs while Cedric shook his head.

"So your major drawback is that you sparkle in the sun like a disco ball?"

Cedric shrugged and pointed to his sofa.

"I thought you could transfigure this into a bed? I will leave you my room until you find something better."

"Sure? I don't want to kick you out. I feel like such an imposition already."

"I don't sleep and I'll be at school most days. It's fine," he reminded her.

Hermione tried not laughing at the idea of a centenarian attending high school and failed once more. In her opinion, they were taking the difficult option when they could just say they were homeschooled. She couldn't imagine how tedious it had to be to attend school for the umpteenth time with teenagers and all their drama.

"Besides, you'll be a nice change of pace around here. We do tend to get bored with immortality."

Hermione accepted that explanation. She always felt she didn't have enough time to accomplish all her projects, whether professional or personal, but immortality, without the respite of sleep in between days, seemed too daunting to consider. Cedric might as well be two hundred years old by now.

When she walked into the gigantic, luxurious bathroom, she realized they would have an easier time of amassing wealth too. Maybe she wouldn't be too much of an imposition after all. Surely feeding and clothing one measly little mortal wouldn't put a dent in their funds, even if Alice seemed to think she liked to wear frilly lingerie and high quality silk dresses. It being her only change of clothes available, it was either that or joining them at the dinner table naked, because the clothes she had travelled in were beyond repair by now.

With a put-upon sigh, Hermione slid into Alice's clothes. They were surprisingly comfortable and fit her perfectly, but seeing such an outfit paired with her wild, unmanageable hair was just plain ridiculous. Not to mention she was cold. Thankfully, she found a nice, soft, beige-coloured jumper in Cedric's room and she pulled it over her head with a cheshire smile. Alice's cry of outrage at the fashion faux-pas when she descended the stairs was just the cherry on top.

"Just because you don't have a warm-blooded circulatory system doesn't mean I can go around with barely a layer of clothes on me," Hermione pouted.

"She's right, honey," Esme said. "I'm sure your outfit was perfect, but we wouldn't want our guest to end up with pneumonia barely a day into our care, now, would we?"

"You left that pullover out on purpose, didn't you?" Alice asked, turning on Cedric rather than argue with the matriarch.

"I don't know what you mean," Cedric replied with a poker face worthy of a Slytherin.

He did ruin it by winking at her though, and Hermione found herself grateful for his attention. Dinner was a strange affair with them all staring at her while she ate. The food was delicious though and conversation was lively bar from Rosalie and Jasper, the first glaring at her while the second looked disturbingly like the Ministry owl she trusted her letters to. He was a bit too wide-eyed and skittish, giving her the impression he was going to take flight any second because of her presence. Hermione didn't mind. She had learned long ago she couldn't be liked by everybody. She'd give it time.

Something she had a lot of, she'd wager, given the time discrepancies between this world and her own. Hell, it might be years before Harry even made contact with her.


	4. Chapter 4

Hermione settled in to the Cullen home with surprising ease. She got on well with everyone after a few days. Jasper, she had learned, was their newest vegetarian and he was still having trouble with his new diet. Her presence in his home was a constant temptation, but they all waved off her concern, as much for him as herself, saying it was good training for him. Hermione didn't mind, but she did find it unsettling at times to be looked at like a tasty snack.

That was a good excuse, however, _not_ to stay cooped up all the time at the Cullen estate. She visited the town, sometimes on foot because she had ever passed her driving licence, sometimes apparating there. It depended mostly on the weather, and she didn't mind walking since she found the place that had become her temporary home so enchanting.

The forests were old, lush and rich with wildlife. Dark too in parts. Dangerous. But she was inexplicably drawn to the heart of the woods until she felt it for the first time: a brush of magic. She was so excited by her find that she half ran into the forest and promptly fell down a slope a few minutes later. She had a miserable time of it climbing back up to the road, then started her trek back home because she doubted she could manage apparating without splinching herself in her state. She wasn't walking very fast and was hoping someone would happen to be taking this remote road so she could ask for a lift, since her ankle hurt so bloody much. She hoped she hadn't sprained it and was debating to try fixing it with magic, wincing with every step. No time to fret too much about it in the end, because she could hear a speeding car approaching and wasn't too surprised to see Jasper's bright yellow sports car.

"Hop in," Alice said, twisting around to open the passenger door from inside.

Hermione didn't need to be told twice. She couldn't wait to get her shoe off. It felt like someone had cast a shrinking jinx on it.

"You saw?" she asked in a defeated voice because she knew there was no way them being there was a coincidence.

"I did," her tone was flat but there was a definite twinkle in her eyes. "You've got a… twig right there."

Alice's cold fingers plucked the offending piece of wood out of her hair as well as a couple of leaves before Hermione realized they weren't heading home.

"Where are you taking me?"

"To see Carlisle at the hospital. You're injured," Alice replied as if she was a bit slow for asking.

"I don't need a doctor. A bit of ice and I'll be fine. I'm sure Carlisle has actual patients who really need his expertise."

"Carlisle will be very cross with us if we don't."

Hermione seriously doubted that and Alice's pout was too exaggerated to be sincere, but she wavered under her insistence and puppy face and finally gave in…

"Jasper!" Hermione snapped when she realized he'd been the one to influence her agreement to go along. "You're such a Slytherin."

"Thank you," he replied with one of his rare smiles.

They had all wanted to be sorted during one of the strange family dinners where she was the only one to eat. Even Rosalie had been curious about which house she would have belonged to. Having known them for only a week by then, she and Cedric first explained about the different Houses and their founders, about the qualities they looked for, or not. Even as Edward, Cedric still thought he belonged into Hufflepuff, but they had fun deciding where to put the others. Carlisle was a shoo in for Ravenclaw and Esme for Hufflepuff. Emmett belonged in Gryffindors and Rosalie in Slytherin, but no one could agree where to place Alice and Jasper, so, as the hat would do, they let them decide. Hermione and Edward were both a bit miffed at having their respective Houses disregarded in favour of Slytherin, of all things, especially as the snakes outnumbered them now.

The unofficial sorting did create bonds between her and Emmett though. He was really proud to be sorted into Gryffindor so Hermione magically knitted him a scarf in their colours during the night.

They had their duel too, during which Hermione discovered the vampires in this world were resistant to spells the way giants were in her own world. It made sense, she concluded, them being close to stone, so it took extra effort just to slow down Emmett and avoid him. In the end, she was too exhausted to continue and surrendered, but promised a rematch when she thought up a strategy against their spell resistant hide.

But today, Jasper must have been feeling especially devious, because not only was he making her go to the hospital for nothing, but he wouldn't let her hobble her way there either and carried her princess style all the way to the lobby while she hung on, her cheeks bright red with mortification. On the bright side, they skipped the paperwork, which she had none of, and headed straight for Carlisle.

"What happened?" he asked as soon as he saw them, walking towards them a tad too fast for a human.

"It's nothing," Hermione said. "Put me down, Jasper. This is ridiculous."

"She fell down a hill," Alice said. "Her ankle hurts and she can't take her shoe off."

Carlisle directed them towards a free bed despite her protests, but her perfectly reasonable arguments were cut off short, replaced by pained whimpers when he tried to take her shoe off for her. It wasn't anywhere close to the cruciatus, but by Merlin's balls did it hurt.

Carlisle glanced around, then winked at her and _tore _her shoe off in half with his bare hands. She knew they were always careful around her, so their show of strength always took her by surprise. Now that she thought about it, Jasper carrying her around like she weighed nothing was another, understated show of force, especially because he looked rather thin himself.

"It's awfully swollen."

"Ouch," Hermione exclaimed when he poked her bruised flesh.

"And tender. It's a good thing you didn't let her put weight on it, son. It could have made it a lot worse."

Jasper smirked at her and she had to bite back her urge to stick her tongue out at him. He might have a few centuries over her but she would show him who was actually an adult here.

It was a sprain. Nothing too bad, but the Cullen found amusement in tormenting her with their overbearing kindness. Hermione couldn't go anywhere without one of them carrying her around like a sack of potatoes, so she had resolved to stay put, if only so she would heal as fast as possible. Not only because she was going stir crazy, but because their was magic around here, the first she had encountered in this world, and if she could find it, study it, maybe she could use it to find a way back to her own world through that damn anomaly.

She didn't share her theory with Edward, not yet. She wanted to have some proof, other than having felt a spark of magic in the woods. Besides, the "kids" were busy planning for their first day of school the next day which meant they were off hunting, drinking blood to their hearts' content so they wouldn't prey on the poor human children around them. She didn't tease them too much about it though. The masquerade was necessary for their kind to blend in, just like the Statute of Secrecy was necessary for wizards and witches in her world. Not to mention chances were high Rosalie would rip her head off if she poked fun at her. She tolerated her, but that wada out it.

On her first day of freedom, Hermione escaped Esme's vigilance and apparated to Forks before the others returned from school. The town was small but to their credit, they had a store for mostly everything if you weren't too picky. They even had a bank and a post office which is more than she could say of small towns in her own country. A quick check of the billboard of the town's map confirmed there was a sports shop too. A bit more out of the way than she'd hoped, but a little walk might do her some good now. Time to strengthen that ankle of hers.

By the time she got there, a boy young enough to go to school was already manning the shop. She had better get her shopping done quickly before one of her vampiric babysitters arrived to kidnap her again. For her own good, of course.

"Hello… Mike," she told the boy, reading off his name tag. "Would you mind helping me pick hiking shoes, and whatever else I might need to go trekking in the woods around here?"

The idiotic smile he gave her lit up his face and she had a feeling she'd made his day. Maybe he had a bonus on his sales? That somehow made her feel a bit less guilty about spending the money the Cullens had provided her for her needs. She had avoided using it until now, but she didn't fancy another tumble in these treacherous woods, nor another sprain, or worse.

However she did think the spray of bear repellent was a bit overkill and had him put it back. If she really came face to face with a bear, she would be out of there before you could say Quidditch. She did give the young man a tip though. He had been very helpful, if a bit too enthusiastic.

"Where were you?" Alice exclaimed when she popped back into the Cullen house.

"Shopping," Hermione replied holding up the bag.

Alice picked up one of her hiking boots with a moue of disgust at the clunky, maroon shoe and dropped it back in.

"In a dumpster?"

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Nooo. At…" she read the ridiculous name off the bag once more. "Newton's Olympic Outfitters, but enough about me. How was school?"

"Mortally boring," Rosalie answered from across the room, posing on the white sofa like a bored Greek goddess. "As always."

"And how did Jasper hold up?"

Hermione couldn't see the newest vegetarian anywhere, nor any of the other boys actually.

"Good!" Alice said with a wide smile. "I do think it did him some good to have you living with us. He wasn't as jumpy when a human bumped into him today. It's a huge improvement on last year!"

"I'm glad my humanity is of use to someone."

But she wondered how close they had come over the years to cause a bloody incident. Poor mortals not realising how close they were to brushing death everytime they walked into school. It wasn't so different to Hogwarts with its werewolves, dark wizards, monstrous dogs and belligerent centaurs, where even the plants were out to kill you. At least the Cullens were _trying _not to be monsters, so she couldn't fault them for the risks they put the humans in. She herself didn't feel threatened at all living with them, not even by Jasper. Speaking of, the boys returned looking dishevelled. Sparring, apparently.

"Blowing off steam," Alice explained.

"Kids," Hermione snorted, knowing full well she was by far the youngest one there.

The next few days, the vampires went to school while she went exploring, fully decked out in professional hiker equipment this time. Fingers crossed she didn't take another tumble. She was thorough in her search of the area she had felt the brush of magic last time,. meticulous even, but she couldn't find the source of magic. It was as if it had moved…

Very likely a magical item or creature in that case. Not a Cullen or another vampire, because like her world's giant, their stone-like qualities kept her from feeling them. She was convinced they did have magic of some kind, but one she couldn't feel or use.

But if this world had vampires, why not centaurs, dragons or whatever else was hiding in these ancient forests. The problem was finding them. Walking aimlessly searching for magic had not given any results either. She could do an organised search on a wider area, with a grid of the forest and systematic search,. but that would take years. Maybe she could check up on local folklore and legends. There was always some truth to be found in those the way they had in her world.

Not defeated one bit despite her lack of results, Hermione returned that day and waited for Edward's return to teach her how to use his computer and Internet.

"What are you looking for exactly?" he asked once she had gotten the basics down. Edward couldn't always peek into her mind with her occlumency shields, but it made him both relieved _and_ curious about what was going on in her mind.

"I'm not sure yet. It's just a hunch. You can't feel magic anymore, right?"

Edward shook his head.

"So there might actually be magic in this world, just not a Wizarding society like there is in ours."

"I suppose."

"I think you are what would be classified as a magical creature in the Wizarding world, and I think there are more out there. I felt something in the woods. A strong burst of magic. I've been trying to locate the source, but I haven't had much luck yet."

"You think we're magical?" She nodded. "And that there is something else magical out there?"

Hermione nodded again, more carefully, wondering where he was going with his line of questioning.

"Hermione, you can't-"

A sharp knock at the door cut him off and Carlisle entered without a word, then just stood there, looking intently at Edward until he muttered a reluctant "Fine."

"What's going on?" she asked when Carlisle left, then realisation hit. "Oh! You two were having a conversation! That's a neat trick. So what's going on?"

Edward looked torn, but he shook his head.

"I can't tell you."

Hermione sighed and cast a muffliato around them, the faint buzzing making Edward look around with narrowed eyes.

"It's a privacy charm Harry stole from Professor Snape."

"Stole?" he asked, amused.

"I'll tell you about it if you tell me what you're not supposed to tell me…"

He chuckled.

"You know no one has been able to blackmail me with information since I was a human. I do like having you around, but alas, I can't tell you. It's a secret we are bound to hold."

"like an unbreakable vow?"

"The consequences would be much the same, so yes, I suppose."

"Alright then," she said, dispelling the muffliato. "I won't pry anymore."

"I'm sure you'll find out eventually. Everyone called you the brightest witch of our age for a reason, right?"

"Of course," she sniffed. "Now, if you don't mind, I'll just use this Internet thingy to prove it."

She could swear she heard snickers coming from downstairs. Vampires just couldn't keep their ears to themselves.

After a few hours of research, she only found a few Loch-Ness type monsters and a couple of haunting pertaining to the region. Not exactly what she had been hoping for, but she noted them down to check out, if only to be thorough. She did find a lot of references to local native tribes, the Quileutes in particular, as the land used to belong to them in these parts, but their history, apparently, was orally transmitted, as per traditions.

"Just great."

Hermione banged her forehead on the keyboard. Was she going to have to sneak into their territory and crawl under a wee one's bed under cover of night like a boggart of old just to listen to their bedtime stories?

"Well…"

Maybe a less creepy version of that would do.


	5. Chapter 5

"Where are you going out so late?" Esme asked when she had one hand on the handle of the front door.

"Just out. For a bit of fresh air," Hermione answered immediately.

She wasn't a night owl by any stretch of the imagination, so she had known her overprotective vampire roommates would question her going out after dark.

"Alright, there's a switch right to your left to turn on the floodlights outside. I don't want you to trip on the stairs again, sweety."

"That happened once," Hermione muttered as she flipped the switch.

And boy, the Cullens weren't kidding around. Their floodlights out front seemed to light up the land for miles around. Not exactly the discreet exit she'd hoped for. She walked and walked, but she was still in the light. Freaking paranoid vampires. She would just have to blatantly go out without permission like the adult that she was, and ask forgiveness later once they all got unnecessarily worried. Honestly, what was the worst that could happen?

Falling down a cliff and breaking your neck. Drowning in a flash flood of one of the many, many rivers criss-crossing the forest. Actually finding what magical creature lurks in said forest and finding out it is hungry. Getting run over by a drunk driver and left to agonize in a ditch…

Hermione hated when her mind tried to be helpful. That had been a rhetorical question to herself, thank you very much. Chances were she would be just fine. It was a small town where the most terrible thing that had happened in the last decade was when Mrs Cavendish's flowerpot got stolen according to Emmett.

Hermione apparated to where the main road to Forks branched off towards the Quileute Indian reserve called La Push. A place she was familiar with but the winding road looked very foreboding after nightfall. Maybe she should come back during the day to scout it and then apparate the next night directly in the reserve.

Hermione almost did just that, but changed her mind before she could twist on the spot. She was a war veteran for Pete's sake. She had faced much worse than a dark, winding road leading into the unknown. Taking a deep breath, Hermione cast the disillusionment charm on herself, shivering at the sensation of cold egg sliding down her body when it was already so cold out, then began walking.

Her hair stood on end just a few feet down the path, then she got goosebumps and she felt it again: That wonderful sensation of a couple bursts of magic some distance away, strong at first but dimming despite them coming closer towards her position.

Hermione stilled and held her breath, listening. A twig snapped, making her jump. She peered into the dark undergrowth on her right but couldn't see anything. Then, what she could only identify as a snort made her spin around and she saw them, two glowing golden eyes. Flashbacks of the basilisk assaulted her. Next thing she knew, she was running as fast as her legs would allow, breathing past the burn in her lungs, and she wiped her tears of terror away with her sleeve. She didn't want to be petrified again. So she ran and ran… But then a heavy weight on her back pinned her down. She squeezed her eyes shut. She'd rather be gobbled up than turned to stone for all eternity, because what were the chances there were mandrakes in this world, or someone capable of brewing the potion to unpetrify her? Next to none.

Grunts and growling interrupted her thoughts of doom and gloom. It sounded as if dogs were having a conversation… No hissing, not anything like a basilisk. Hermione risked an eye open, the golden eyes still glaring down at her, but she was relieved to note they were attached to a very shaggy, huge wolf-like dog. A bit like the Grim.

"Padfoot?" she asked, feeling a bit confused.

Why not? After all, if dead Cedric had been reborn here, why not Sirius. The veil was very similar to the magical anomaly she had been pulled through after all. But the Grim above her shifted and a young man grinned down at her.

"Told you guys it was a woman!" he shouted over his shoulder.

It was not Sirius. Too young, too tanned, so healthy-looking in fact, it made her feel like a potato in comparison. But then he sniffed her, his nose brushing against her exposed neck.

"You smell nice, blood sucking flavour aside. Did you run away from them? Are you asking for-"

"Enough!" snapped an older man.

Naked. Starker. Hermione looked away, only now realising her own captor was equally as naked. Not an animagus then. She would have been marked for life if she'd had to see Sirius and McGonagall naked everytime they shifted. But they weren't werewolves either. They were too beautiful in their wolf form, for starters. Werewolves looked like some twisted nightmare version of a wolf. Besides, it wasn't even the full moon and they obviously shifted at will.

Uhmm… At least I found my magical creatures, so there's that…

A third man, thankfully clothed this time, approached them and tossed bundles of clothes at his naked friend. He took custody of her, looking confused when he had to hold seemingly nothing, but he did help her off the cold, hard ground, although he kept an iron grip on her, preventing her from reaching her wand and thus, escaping. When the others returned, they frogmarched her down to La Push in silence, the older one looming behind her. He was obviously their leader, the one she would have to convince she meant no harm. She had to check a couple of times she was still invisible, since she found it so strange they just took that fact in stride. Maybe they had met invisible people before? Honestly, not much would surprise her anymore.

Finally, she was let into a cosy house with wide windows and wooden everything. She liked it and wished she could curl up in the inviting sofa instead of being tied to the central beam. Not to mention there was a delicious aroma of cake lingering in the air that made her stomach growl. The one who had caught her smirked in her direction with eery accuracy despite her invisibility, then picked a muffin off a side table and bit into it.

"Tease," she told him, satisfied when he choked on his mouthful. His friend patted his back, biting back on a smile. It was all very fun until their leader towered over her. He, contrary to his minions, was scary.

"Who are you?"

"Hermione Granger. Nice to meet you."

His scowl deepened while the two others elbowed each other.

"Why are you here?"

"Because you brought me here? I wasnt coming here, per se."

Oh, she was definitely channeling her inner Harry. The leader growled.

"I wanted to visit La Push to find the magical source around these parts. Turns out it was you guys. Yay me."

"Magic?"

"Not a magic I'm familiar with, but definitely magic."

The man hummed, looking less cross and more contemplative.

"Do you know what we are?"

"That's a tough one. I'm going to have to go with shape shifters, although I'm not sure if you have only the wolf form or more. Like I said, I'm not familiar with your brand of magic."

"And why were you looking for us?"

"Not for you in particular. I was looking for magic."

"Magic?" the two others mouthed at each other, the one who had captured her miming something like an explosion.

Maybe they actually knew more about magic than they appeared. They seemed harmless enough anyway so she'd stick around for now. Not that she could escape yet, but it was only a matter of time she was sure.

Her disillusionment charm finally wore off, surprising her interrogator enough that he took a step back.

"What are you? How did you do that?"

"Magic," she repeated, the "obviously" heavily implied. "I'm… a witch. I know, I know, it sounds bad, but I'm a good witch. A white witch, I suppose, since we call the bad ones dark witches."

The leader narrowed his eyes at her as if gauging whether she was serious or not. He glanced at his minions and told the one she had not seen naked, Jared, to go fetch Black. Then he too sniffed her. Had to be a wolf thing. His eyes widened and he took a couple more steps back.

"Why do you reek of the Cullens?" he demanded.

Bit harsh. Hermione tilted her nose towards her shoulder, inhaling deeply, but she certainly didn't stink, just her usual scent, but these guys were most likely caninely inclined, with a better sense of smell than she possessed.

"I'm a guest at their home. I'm an old friend of Edward's."

"Of a blood-sucker?" the one who had captured her asked in disbelief.

"Paul," the leader admonished.

"I think vampire is the politically correct appellation. Besides, he wasn't always a vampire. I knew him before."

"But he's old. "

"Paul!"

"Yes, that wasn't very polite," Hermione agreed.

"He's got a point though. Are you an immortal?"

"Merlin, I certainly hope not. Seems positively boring. Can you untie me now?"

"No."

Hermione pouted. She was tired of standing but unsure the ropes would actually hold her up if her legs gave out. She had no doubt Paul would laugh at her predicament if she tried though. Soon, Jared returned pushing a man in a wheelchair. The Black they had been talking about if she had to guess. Bit ironic since she had first thought she had found Sirius, the lost Black heir. This Black's face was lined with laugh lines, but he was not finding anything amusing as he rolled in. Jared let go of the wheelchair once they were past the threshold and Black pushed himself closer to her.

"Hello," she said when he only looked curiously at her while the leader whispered in his ear.

Black nodded at whatever was being said, then mulled it over in silence. Even Paul was quiet for once.

"Untie her," Black finally said.

Maybe he was the real leader because the other one immediately obeyed and cut through the rope which pooled at her feet. Hermione rubbed her arms to get the blood flowing again. Between that and their earlier manhandling, she was going to be covered in bruises. She never could have imagined what would happen next. Black asked for the knife from the former leader, then slashed his hand, a deep gouge that spilled blood all over his lap. Hermione gasped, too shocked for words, then her instincts kicked in and she cast a strong healing charm on his hand, and a cleaning spell on his clothes while she was at it. The sight of blood was still somewhat traumatic to her after her seventh year.

"Alright, I believe you," Black concluded, at which point the other leader, Sam, she learned, started berating him for not sharing his plan. Hermione huffed and stalked towards the couch she had been eyeing earlier, falling back into it. Shape shifters were an exhausting breed, she learned. Unfortunately, she was beginning to doubt they would be any help in her quest for a way home. Black wheeled closer to the couch.

"But I have to admit, I'm worried you are staying with the Cullens. It isn't safe."

"They're vegetarians."

Sam and Paul scoffed.

"Accidents happen," Black said, to which Sam nodded gravely. "You're welcome to stay with the tribe if you have no place to go."

Hermione's eyebrows shot up at the offer, certain it came with a hidden agenda of some sort, more than out of the kindness of their hearts. She wasn't born yesterday.

"Are your kind and the Cullens at war?" she asked because not much else seemed to make sense.

Black winced.

"They didn't tell you? The Cullens?"

She shook her head.

"Anything?" he insisted.

"Not even that I should look out for giant wolves if I went for a walk, if that's what you want to know."

Black cursed under his breath while Hermione wondered which faction she had just landed in. Both the Cullens and this shape shifting tribe seemed like good people, but if they were at war with each other, so there had to be some bad blood between them. In which case, who was she now amongst? The Order of the Phoenix, or the Death Eaters? Hopefully, it was all just a misunderstanding because she did not want to be caught in the middle.

"It's late," Black sighed, wheeling himself around towards the door. "You can stay here with Sam and Emily for the night."

Hermione looked around for an Emily, but found none. It did explain the feminine touches she found here and there which made it the the cosy home it was. This Emily was probably asleep at this hour, like any sane person would be. Jared pushed Black out of the door and Paul hovered between them and Sam.

"You two can patrol for the night," Sam told him. "I'll keep an eye on our guest."

He then locked the door, a fat lot of good that would do, then opened a drawer and tossed a blanket and pillow next to her on the couch while Sam made himself comfortable as a giant wolf in front of the hearth where a few dying embers were still radiating heat.

"I don't think so," Hermione said and stood. "I'm sorry I came snooping around your reserve, but I don't deserve to be imprisoned for it. I'll just leave, if it's all the same to you."

The wolf jumped to its feet and relocated in front of the door to growl at her. Hermione didn't like disapparating from the heart of someone's home, as it was a very impolite thing to do in the Wizarding world, but since she was here against her will… Hermione twisted on the spot and fell. Right onto the wooden floorboards in front of Sam's large snout. The wolf huffed strangely a couple of times, as if it was laughing at her. She tried again, blaming her misfortune on her lack of focus, but she fell again and glared at the huffing wolf.

"The Cullens aren't going to be happy with you," she warned but the triumphant glint in his eyes told her that maybe it was exactly what he wanted.

This house, maybe this whole territory had to have kept some ancient magic that replicated an anti-apparition ward. Maybe there had been witches and wizards in this world's past. Maybe there still was. She would find another way out. She couldn't be the reason for a war between the shape-shifters and the vampires, no matter how small the scale.


	6. Chapter 6

Hermione had tried to escape several time during the night, but that damn Sam-wolf was there at every turn to block her path, which is why she was sulking at the breakfast table despite her hostess trying to cheer her up with her witty retorts and delicious baking. It was hard not to warm up to Emily, and the way she turned the fierce Sam into a love-struck puppy was hilarious to behold. But Hermione was still cross with the natives for keeping her captive. The Cullens had to be worried sick by now.

On cue, Paul strutted in, grabbed a couple of pancakes and announced that they were here.

"All of them?" Sam asked.

"Yep."

"Good. Take the girl there," Hermione balked at being called a girl. She was thirty for crying out loud. "We'll return their pet with a reminder of the treaty's terms and what should happen if they break it."

Hermione looked questioningly from one wolf to the other. The Cullens had never spoken of a treaty but she would bet it was part of the secret Edward couldn't tell her, but how did she fit in? Her thoughts came to an abrupt end when Paul snapped his teeth at her, then he sniffed her again and hummed.

"Almost forgot how good you smell."

"You, on the other hand, need a shower, young man," she said with her nose wrinkled.

"I've been running all night to keep you safe," Paul muttered as he grabbed her arm to lead her outside. "You might show some gratitude."

"For what? I'm not in any danger."

Paul whirled her around to face him, forcing her up on the tip of her toes.

"You have no idea what you're dealing with. Those things… They're evil, soulless creatures. You're a meal to them, sweetheart. A pretty snack that walks and talks, and one day, one of them will gobble you up."

"You don't know them," she hissed.

"No, and I don't want to…" He smelled the breeze dancing around them. "But I can smell them. Come on."

Jared and Sam joined them halfway through the woods. She was struggling to keep up without tripping. She was exhausted but Paul kept pulling her along so she didn't have much of a choice. She could hear water running ahead when they stopped.

"Hand her over Paul. You two better change. I'll handle the rest."

"Remember what I said," Paul whispered against her ear before pushing her towards Sam and changing into the giant wolf that had caught her last night. His eyes were just as golden but his fur was a beautiful silver in the light of day. She kind of wanted to pet him in this shape, especially when he butted his large head against her, but she refrained upon recalling how much of an annoying loudmouth he was.

On her right, Jared was a very dark chocolate brown, but she supposed all wolves appeared black in the dark of night.

"Sam?" came a melodious voice she knew well.

Carlisle had come for her, and she saw all the others too when they stepped past the brush to the top of a ravine overlooking a stream far below. There they all stood, the seven Cullens in all their glorious beauty. Seeing them like this, it was a wonder the humans did not see them for what they were. To think they worried in the Wizarding World when the purebloods went into the muggle world wearing out of fashion clothes, or a pink tutu with boots. But the Cullens' very bodies were too perfect, unnaturally so, like antique statues of the Gods come to life. Even Edward had little to do with the Cedric she had known in school.

"Hermione, are you alright?" Esme asked, eyes wide with worry at the sight of the giant wolves at her side.

"Fine. I'm fine."

"She's better off with us," Sam said, earning himself a few growls from the vampires. "But for some reason, she wishes to return to you, so I feel obligated to remind you of the terms of our treaty."

"We haven't forgotten and we will uphold them," Carlisle said. "We did not tell Hermione about you for that very reason. I'm sorry her… curiosity has caused some tension between us."

Sam scoffed, the silence between the two groups growing heavy when Sam did not let go of her.

"What is she to you anyway?"

"A dear friend."

Alice and Edward nodded emphatically while Esme twisted her hands anxiously.

"And I'm to believe you having her powers in your hands is just a coincidence?"

Hermione stared at Sam in shock. What the hell was he implying?

"I'm not sure what you're trying to say?" Carlisle replied coolly, echoing her thoughts. It was rare to see him be anything but amiable, but his tone made shivers run down her back. She'd hate to see him get crossed.

"I'm sure you don't."

Sam finally let her go and turned around, Jared following him closely as they disappeared behind the brush, while Paul lingered a few feet behind her. Hermione looked over the gap between her and her friends but felt dizzy from the height, as if the void was pulling her down.

"You can do it, Hermione," Edward encouraged her.

"Are you mad? I'll fall. I'd fall even if I had a broom."

"Can't I just-" Emmett said, motionning he jump back and forth over the invisible frontier, before Carlisle cut him off with a sharp "No."

"Can you apparate?" Edward asked.

Hermione tried. It was a very short distance. She wouldn't be able to splinch herself all that much even if she tried. Unfortunately, she only twisted on the spot and fell back on the ground.

"That's a no. Any other ideas?" she asked as she brushed dead leaves and dirt off her clothes.

"Levitation?"

"Are you trying to get me killed, Edward."

"Maybe we can just walk to a better spot. There's a dead tree across the ravine a few miles up." Hermione grimaced at Esme's idea. "Or the bridge further up."

"That's over ten miles!" Rosalie protested. "It's going to take her hours. She's slow even by mortal standard."

"She is standing right here, Rose." Rosalie raised an eyebrow. "Meaning I can hear you?"

She clearly didn't care.

"Just jump already."

No, she really, really didn't care.

"I know a curse that can make you spit slugs for hours and hours," she said to no one in particular, but Rosalie was quiet after that.

Paul, on the other hand, huffed in amusement and head butted her right in the arse.

"Oï! Watch it," Hermione admonished, but it was hard to speak harshly to such a beautiful creature. She might as well try to kick a puppy. "What do you want? Aren't you supposed to go home with your pack?"

"He wants you to ride him," Edward said.

"I beg your pardon," she said, her cheeks bright red as Emmet guffawed.

"Poor phrasing," Edward admitted. "Although-"

Paul growled regaining her attention.

"You want me to go on your back?" Hermione asked him, to which he nodded, his large head bobbing up and down. "Aren't I too heavy?"

Paul snorted and hit her flank once more, his bushy tail wagging furiously.

"Fine. I guess it's the least worst of all our options."

Paul lay down so she could straddle him with more ease since he was about as tall as a horse. She put her arms around his neck so as not to pull out his grey fur, but squeaked in fright when he suddenly stood again. To counter her loss of balance, she grabbed handfuls of fur and Paul growled again. Since Edward was chuckling, the wolf was probably cursing at her but she wasn't in any actual danger. Next thing she knew, the forest was a blur, the wolf and her bounding at incredible speed around trees and over rocks. This was worse than piggy back riding Edward. Hermione closed her eyes and prayed to Merlin she arrived in one piece.

"Hermione? Sweety? You can let go now."

Esme's comforting voice was the only reason she risked one eye open. All the Cullens were standing on the other side of what barely deserved the name of bridge. It was more like an ancient tree fell over the ravine and people made the best of it. Her friends looked worriedly at her, but did not step forward, as if there was an invisible line keeping them on the other side. Not wanting to be any more of a burden, Hermione unclenched her fists, wincing at the tufts of fur clinging to her sweaty palms.

"Sorry," she told Paul in a shaky whisper before sliding down his flank. "I'd thank you for the ride, but I doubt I would sound sincere right now."

Paul licked her face. It was disgusting and she wiped off the slobber with the back of her sleeve immediately, but she was relieved he didn't hold a grudge. The shape shifters weren't a bad sort. They just happened to be her friends' enemies.

As soon as Hermione had taken a step over the tree-bridge, Paul bolted, sounds of giant paws thudding against the forest ground getting dimmer by the second. Hermione walked as fast as her shaky legs would allow, right into Edward's waiting arms.

"Maybe keeping secrets wasn't such a good idea," she said as Edward picked her up in his arms. "And if you dare run through the forest with me, I swear I'll find a way to may you sparkle under the moon too."

Edward tsked at her, but he looked equally amused and relieved to have her back in the midst of his family.

"Your wish is my command," Edward mocked and darted off at a light trot.

Not much of an improvement, but he was trying and they were back home in not time. Hermione apologised profusely, explaining why she had gone and how very wrong it had turned out.

"When we signed the treaty with Ephraim Black, I got a glimpse of his sisters. He had three of them, and I didn't know why they stood out so much to me until I met you."

Hermione sat on the edge of her seat, hanging onto Carlisle's every word.

"The shape-shifters do not smell appetising to us. It's an interesting evolution in self defence and this particularity spreads to their tribe. For instance, you, right now, smell strongly of wet dog."

Hermione smelled herself but couldn't detect what had most of her vampire hosts wrinkle their noses at her, or in Rosalie's case, stop breathing entirely, which was much more disturbing to see.

"The three sisters, however, were more appealing to me than was natural, and that despite the stench of wet dog which clung to them. I had never been able to figure out why until I met you, a witch, with the very same particularity as it turns out."

"Not Cedric? I mean Edward?"

"He was on the brink of death when I found him. I imagine the spark of magic had already left him, or that the smell of death was already too strong."

So the three Black sisters could have been witches, a small familial coven, which was the strongest kind of all. It might account for the anti-apparating ward all over the reserve, but if it had been cast so long ago, the reserve itself had to be built on a lay line of magical power as ancient and powerful as the one Hogwarts sat on. She would love to study it, but that didn't seem plausible given the tensions existing between the vampires and shape-shifters .

Carlisle's story however, worried her. If witches smelled more appealing to vampires than muggles, was it possible her kind had simply been eaten out of existence? The vampires in this world were efficient killing machines that magic could do little against from what she gathered from her matches against Emmet. They were simply too fast, too strong, too resilient… Her occlumency shields must have fallen because Edward looked stricken for a moment. Hermione excused herself. She had a lot to think about, because not only was she more appealing to vampires, and not in a good way, but to the shape-shifters too from what she could tell of their reaction to her scent. What if that was the case for every other magical creature in this world? She suddenly felt like the last treacle tart on the platter during the Hogwarts welcome feast, hungry eyes on her from everywhere.


	7. Chapter 7

Hermione continued sparring with Emmet, but also with Edward and Alice on occasion. She soon found out she had to use sneaky spells that caught them off-guard instead of using powerful, showy ones they could easily dodge and that had little effect on them anyway. This discovery meant the mind arts and silly hexes worked best, such as the sleeping charm, confundus spell or shoelace-tying jinx. She could delay an attack or keep them busy until help arrived, but she hadn't yet found out a way to dispose of them on her own since, according to them, it included dismemberment and liberal use of fire. The latter, she could do. She could even use fire spells to burn them "alive" in a bind, although it might just pisss them off. But dismemberment? She didn't have the physical force to tear them apart, and her magic couldn't cut into their stony skin.

"There has to be stone-cutting spells. I mean, look at Hogwarts, that wasn't hand-made," Edward said.

"I completely agree, but I never learned those spells. Even if I had come across them, I wouldn't have bothered. Who needs them apart for magical builders? And even then, a reparo on the old stonework usually does the trick."

"I'm sure we'll figure something out eventually, and in the meanwhile, you can always slow them down long enough to make a run for it. That's more than any other mortal can achieve."

Edward had a point, and now that she felt more at ease about eventual rogue vampires taking a fancy to her blood, especially after Carlisle had explained vampires were a territorial sort and this area had clearly been claimed by their family, Hermione decided it was time to find a place of her own. She had been in this world for a few weeks already, and it seemed she was here to stay. She couldn't live on her friends' dime forever, and she was already restless from the boredom. She needed a purpose, a job, and in the long run, people who would grow old with her. She was planning way ahead, but that's how she found peace in her life. If she just waited around for Harry or someone else from her own world to come help her, she would drive herself mad. Besides, checking out the job offers or only realtor in Forks didn't mean she was moving out _tomorrow_. She was just being prepared.

But vampires were _drama-queens_, the whole lot of them. Esme's sad eyes coerced her into accepting her offer to redecorate wherever she chose to live, Alice to fill her closets once she moved in, and Edward, her library shelves. Emmet accepted to teach her to drive since that was actually something she wanted to learn, while Jasper insisted she should learn how to use a gun which she absolutely did not want to, but the traitor used his emotion mojo and she caved. Carlisle thought she could do well in the hospital using her healing magic discreetly and she promised to think on it. Everyone kept offering something or other and guilting her into accepting. They knew exactly how to play her like a fiddle.

Her favourite present, which she couldn't have refused even if she wanted to, came in a simple brown envelope.

"They don't look fake at all," Hermione marvelled at her new identity papers, inclining them this way and that under the light.

"Technically, they are real papers, despite the forgery. They'll check out if you're controlled by the police. Only problem was, we found you do have a double here, and she lives in the States too."

"Oh," Hermione was at a loss for words, although it did explain the strange last name attached to her first name. The news surprised her, because Edward had told her there was no Cedric Diggory in this world. She imagined it was due to her muggle heritage, while Cedric had been a pureblood through and through.

"What is she like?" she asked, devoured by curiosity at what her life could have been if it weren't for magic.

"Just like you. Except for the teeth and scars. And she's a math expert for the NASA. She had a residence in Florida, but travels quite a lot." Jasper said. "She's single and has a cat she takes everywhere with her."

"Do you have the cat's colour too?" she teased.

"Orange."

"Oh.. I was kidding. That's very… thorough." She sighed. "She sounds a lot less boring than me,"

"I bet she can't turn a table into a pig," Emmett pointed out, making her chuckle.

He was right. She had magic, and nothing, not even a cool career and living the life on a sunny beach with her faithful cat was worth not having that unique spark of wonder.

Pointing her wand at a large boulder nearby, Hermione transfigured it into a grouchy bear. Emmett looked between her and the fury menace with a wide grin lighting up his face.

"Go ahead," she said as a thank you for cheering her up.

In the blink of an eye, Emmett was wrestling the beast and by the sound of him, he was having the time of his life. He was such a kid.

"I wish you'd just stay with us. We haven't had this much fun in decades," Edward said.

"I don't think I'll be able to handle Emmett's teasing when I get my first grey hair, and I wish you'd all stop fussing. I haven't even found a place or a job yet. I haven't even packed my bags, for Merlin's sake."

"Time is relative," Jasper said wisely.

"Did you just Einstein me?" Jasper grinned his shark like grin. Terrifying. "Nevermind. So who is this Hale I'm named after? It's not the comet, is it? You're not trying to make a pun on celestial bodies from another planet, right? Because that would be a terrible pun."

"No," Jasper said softly. "That is actually my name, which I have shared with Rosalie, for obvious, practical reasons. I'd be honored if you accepted it as well."

Hermione was feeling foolishly emotional by his offer. Of course they couldn't _all_ be named Cullen since they did not hide their involvement with one another. Something which would have caused quite a stir in such a small town she was sure, but it had not crossed her mind until then.

"Well, your hair is just as unmanageable as mine, so I'm sure I can pass for a Hale," she said with a sniffle.

"Mine is perfect!" Rosalie shouted from the house's open door, causing the boys to roll their eyes.

"Hermione Hale, Hermione Hale…" she repeated to herself. "Yeah, I could get used to that, it sounds really good actually."

She forced a smile. Don't get her wrong, she was relieved she had an identity that wouldn't put her double in trouble, as well as papers to prove it, and a family who accepted her so readily, but it wasn't that easy to let go of her name, the one her parents had given her. She'd lost both of them to her memory charm during the war and their name was all she had left, even more so here, in this parallel universe. Judging by the calming wave that settled around her, Jasper seemed to have picked up on her grief though.

"Thanks," she said again.

The Fates must have decided to make life especially interesting for the Cullen family this year, because a month after collecting a stray dimension traveller, it decided to throw a siren at them too.

Hermione had been a bit confused at first by the news, because she, of course, was picturing the mere-people from the Black Lake. The vampires were all talking so fast, she barely managed to catch a few words here and there, trying to puzzle them together, but she didn't miss out on the tension, especially coming from Edward. Even Jasper wasn't able to sooth him down. He looked anguished and as if he would bolt at the first occasion.

Eventually, Carlisle did tell him to go if that's what he thought he needed. Esme hugged him tight, whispering in his ear, her words seeming to sooth him some. When it was her turn, Edward tensed.

"I'm not sure what's going on," she told him. "Is there anything I can do?"

He shook his head.

"The monster in me… it almost took over… I almost…"

He shuddered visibly. It had to have been pretty bad, especially because Edward was always so in control of himself, not twitchy like Jasper.

"But you didn't?"

"No. But I need to leave for a bit. Get away from it. From her."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"Let Esme mother you while I'm away?" He chuckled at her horrified expression. Emse could smother you with kindness if you let her.

"So you'll be back?"

Edward clenched his jaw.

"I'm sorry. I know I promised to take care of you, but… Or you could come with me?"

"Where are you heading?"

"North. Alaska. We have cousins settled over there, in Denali, vegetarians like us."

A shiver ran down Hermione's spine at the thought of living so far North. Weather wasn't always the best here in Forks, but at least it was bearable.

"Or maybe not. I'll keep in touch," he promised. "Sorry if I don't hug you right now. It's a bit… I need to hunt."

Hermione nodded, a bit sad to see him go, but it's not like he was leaving her one her own. She had his whole family to look after her.

Dinner that night was subdued however, all strained smiles and stilted conversations. They were all worrying about Edward, and after getting the whole story out of Alice, so was she. And yet, after hearing Emmett's account of coming across his own siren, Hermione thought Edward had been extremely strong to resist the call of her blood.

Herself, in comparison, might smell better than the average human but at least she wasn't the equivalent of hard drugs to an addict, merely an unusual treat that tested their resolve without driving them to madness.

The next few days were just as morose. Alice was busy keeping her inner-eye on Edward while Jasper focused his energy on calming Alice when they were home and avoiding the siren while at school. Emmett was convinced they should just get rid of the girl so his brother could come back, so Rosalie had to keep a leash on him because no one else agreed with that plan. Carlisle worked twice as much at the hospital and Esme was moping about. Hermione did her best to keep her busy, going so far as to invent problems she didn't have, but she was running out of ideas after her manicure emergency and the piss poor excuse of the technology-impaired witch who doesn't know how to use a microwave.

So when Alice texted everyone after a week had gone by that Edward was on his way back, a cheer went through the family and they prepared a welcome back party for him.

_Vampires. Drama Queens. _

After that little crisis was averted, Edward having decided to struggle through his hunger with the help of his siblings, to confront the siren, everything went back to normal. Mostly. Edwards was acting a bit weird: disappearing in the middle of the night, hunting daily, grinning more than usual, or so lost in his thoughts, his brothers had this game of seeing who could pile up the most objects on top of his head…

"What's up with Edward?" she finally asked.

"Urgh, don't ask," Rosalie replied, her hair puffing up the way a cat's fur would before she strutted out towards the garage.

"Okay. What's up with _her_? Is it the full moon? Is it like PMS for vampires?"

Alice tittered, her laugh likes bells.

"Edward is in love, I think. He keeps denying it, but I know better. So of course, Rosalie is jealous."

Hermione frowned in confusion.

"Why would Rosalie be jealous?"

"Long story, and not mine to tell," Alice said as she slid a cool around her shoulders. "Maybe she'll tell you one say. Did I ever tell you of the day when I was turned?"

Hermione shook her head, eyes wide.

"I didn't think you would want to share, either of you. I mean, it's very personal…"

Edward hadn't told her about his experience, and she hadn't been bold enough to ask him past making sure Voldemort hadn't been the cause of his change.

"You're family now, Miss Hale," Alice said with a mischievous smile, before she told her not of her life as a human, of which she had no recollection, but of her first steps as a vampire, her thirst for blood, but more than that, her need to find the vampire in her visions.

"Jasper?" Hermione asked, entranced.

Alice nodded her head, her amber eyes twinkling the way Crooks used to when he had caused some mischief.

As the tale of how she found her beloved vampire and scared the bejesus out of him continued, Hermione wondered about the existence of soulmates. She had always wondered, what with everything she had discovered in the wizarding world being real such as souls, soulbonds, prophecies and divination, how everything and everyone was entwined more intricately than mere happenstance would allow. Jasper and Alice had clearly been destined to one another. Was there a chance she would find a soulmate too one day, despite being in a world she hadn't been born into? Or had she always been meant to cross over into this world to find him? Or her? Soulmates could probably take different shapes after all… Hermione was so lost in her thoughts that she only snapped out of it when Emmet tried piling a couple of books on top of her head. A quick flip of her wand had the carpet twist around his legs, making him tumble forward. That'll teach him to be so cheeky.


	8. Chapter 8

More drama was thrown at them when the cold settled over the mountains, covering the roads in ice sheets so large that Hermione was seriously considering wearing ice-skates anywhere she went. Emmett had given up giving her driving lessons in these conditions after she almost sent his jeep over a cliff. Even vampires only had so much patience and Hermione was trying to modify her bear transfiguration of rocks to make him a polar bear as an apology gift, but so far, all her bears had come out with fur like a spotted dalmatian.

Her own little problems aside, most of the Cullen-Hale clan, bar Cedric and Carlisle who was working at the hospital, returned one day after school arguing about the Bella girl again. It took Esme raising her voice to get everyone to sit down and explain the problem slow enough for their mortal sister to follow.

"Edward outed us, the selfish idiot," Rosalie snapped.

That surprised both Esme and Hermione.

"Did he bite her?" they asked simultaneously.

"She was going to be squashed by a car slipping on the ice," Emmett said with a pointed look at Hermione who blushed, still embarrassed by almost totalling his beloved jeep. "Edward couldn't leave well enough alone and had to save her." He rolled his eyes. "Super speed, super strength, miraculously unscathed by the car wreck… You name it, he did it, and right in front of the Swan girl too."

"She'll keep his secret," Alice said, her eyes slightly unfocused.

"For now," Rosalie muttered.

"For now is all we need until Edward and Carlisle return. We'll decide what's best then," Esme said, putting an end to the squabble.

Rosalie stormed off into the garage, followed by Emmet.

"She wasn't hurt, was she? This Bella girl?" Hermione asked since no one had seemed overly concerned about the mortal's fate. "Should I go to the hospital?"

"No, it was just a few scrapes. Hardly any blood at all," Alice assured her. "And I really don't think she will tell anyone what she saw, so no need for your memory erasing magic."

Hermione blushed. She had thought about using a simple obliviate to help out. Nothing like the complicated memory spell she had cast on her parents, nothing that could damage the girl's mind in any way, but she still felt guilty about being called out on it.

"That is some very practical magic for our kind however," Jasper said more to himself than anyone in particular. "You'd better keep that to yourself lest some unsavoury people decide they want such a skill for themselves."

"Are there vampires who can steal talents?" Hermione asked aghast at the thought of a vampire stealing her magic.

"No, but they could _make_ you one of them," Jasper said.

"Well, I'd still be one of _you_," Hermione sniffed. "I wouldn't belong to whoever turns me." She paused as if only considering it for the first time. She always thought she'd end up as food if she crossed paths with an unknown vampire, not as a vampire herself. "I'm not going to, right ?" she asked Alice.

Alice looked away.

"Alice!"

"There are too many futures and I can't see all of them."

"But you've seen me turned?"

"It's only in a small fraction of the possibilities."

"Well, fuck me sideways!" Hermione exclaimed aghast, having never imagined being anything but a mortal.

"Hermione," Esme chided from the kitchen while Emmett could be heard snickering from the garage.

Hermione rolled her eyes. As if in all their centuries they had never heard much fouler language than that.

The family gathered a couple of hours later when Edward and Carlisle returned together from the hospital. Edward was adamant Bella would keep their secret, having made her promise, but explained he had also loudly proclaimed the girl had hit her head rather hard so they could dismiss her accusations as the divagations of someone with a brain injury if she decided to break her word.

However, this wasn't their first brush with being discovered for what they really were, and everyone knew their role to prevent it. Edward would read the minds of the people around her, Alice was tasked with monitoring the future, while the others would keep their ears open for any rumours concerning their family. Hermione felt quite useless during this crisis, but she did tell Carlisle about the obliviate spell in case it was needed. If someone had doubts, they wouldn't necessarily need to run and that made her feel a lot better.

The first few days were tense however, especially after Alice confided some her visions of the future had become murky around Bella, and that Edward not only could not hear her thoughts at all but he had discovered he could barely hear her father's and given he was chief of the local police, that was more than a little worrying.

"You go spy on him," Alice said and Esme immediately agreed.

"Why me?" she asked in horror. "I'm a terrible spy! Just ask Edward what happened when I tried to spy on the Slytherins as a second year."

"Why? What happened?" Emmet asked with his usual eagerness to make fun of someone.

"I didn't think those rumours were true," Edward replied before turning to Emmett with a barely hidden smirk. "She turned herself into a cat."

Emmett's shoulders sagged.

"That's not so bad."

"A humanoid, five foot tall, bipedal, talking cat," Edward explained.

"You mean… a furry." Emmett looked at her then burst out laughing. "You turned yourself into a literal furry?"

"Yes, well, don't go making it weird. I was only twelve at the time." Hermione loved ruining Emmett's fun. "Still don't know why _I _would make a good candidate to spy on the chief of police. Like I said, I'm terrible at it."

"Just go in batting your eyelashes," Jasper said, then glanced at Alice. "That's still a thing, yes?"

"Yes, dear," her mate reassured him as she patted his arm lovingly.

No matter her arguments, all the Hales and Cullens thought it was a great, or at the very least hilarious, idea, and Hermione was now on her way to the police station with a bogus excuse to report her wallet missing. That way she could share her connection to the Cullens and see if he reacted in an abnormal way. Then, if she had the slightest doubt, she could use her legilimency to make sure, fix it, and they could all resume a "normal" life.

She walked into town the next day since she wasn't about to take her chances with the still icy roads and her near-death experience driving Emmett's jeep. Of course, she hadn't counted on the other drivers inattention or lack of control over their own car while she was a pedestrian. She was in the middle of the crossing, doing her best not to slip and fall on her behind when she heard the screech of brakes. When she turned in that direction, an old black van was spinning out of control. She thought it would miss her and crash into the post office, but it hit a lamp post and went from spinning one way to sliding in the opposite direction, right at her. She stared wide eyes at the whole scene as if seeing it in slow motion. Her first reflex was to run out of the way, but her boots were too slippery, then people began screaming, pulling her out of her trance-like terror, just in time to cast a barrier between her and the van to cushion the blow.

She was projected several feet away and she could have sworn she was flying until she hit the cold, hard road again. As she lost consciousness, she rationalised that there had been no time to cast anything else really, and at least, she wasn't dead.

Someone was yelling and they were pretty pissed at someone named Tyler. Whoever he was, it sounded like he was having a very bad week.

"Don't move," the same gruff voice ordered when Hermione blinked back to awareness.

She couldn't have been out for too long because she was still on that damn icy road. She was starting to hate Forks and seriously considering moving in with her double in Florida.

"Cold," she argued, feeling goosebumps crawl all over her body. "I'm fine."

Her barrier had acted like an airbag and protected her from most of the impact with the van. She hadn't been prepared for the countershock that propelled her into the air however, which, in hindsight, had been stupid of her.

"Fine?" the man asked incredulously. "You just got hit by a van ma'am. But I can help with the cold, if you promise not to move."

He unzipped his jacket and as her eyes became more focused on the world around her, she realized he was a police officer, and not only that, but the name tag on the jacket now lying over her informed her he was the man she had been looking for. A snort of laughter escaped her at the irony, which seemed to worry Mr Swan even more. Or was it Officer Swan? Chief Swan? Her head felt a bit whoozy too. Maybe he was right and it was best not to move. Had she hit her head? She couldn't remember and was struggling not to fall asleep.

"Keep your eyes open," Chief Swan ordered. "What's your name?"

"Hermione. Hermione… Hale."

She gave herself a mental pat on the back for not giving Granger as her name out of sheer habit, then remembered to check Mr Swan's reaction to the name. Which was none whatsoever. Which was… good. Yeah, that was good. Even if she was now starting to worry if maybe she had hit her head hard enough to make herself the stupidest witch of her age, because she shouldn't be struggling so much to string two such simple thoughts together.

"I don't feel so good," she added and the man reached for her hand, giving it a squeeze.

"Just stay with me until the ambulance gets here and they'll sort you out, alright?"

She nodded, wincing when the movement finally revealed she did indeed have a tender spot on the back of her head.

"You're not from around here. Were you visiting our lovely town. I swear it's usually more welcoming."

"Visiting with some family," she replied, and now was her chance to make sure his daughter hadn't told him anything she shouldn't have. "Jasper and Rosalie. They live with the Cullens. Do you know them?"

"Yes, of course." And was that a genuine smile? It was handsome too, and made his moustache twitch in the cutest way. Or was that just the probable concussion speaking? In any case, mission accomplished. Mr Swan hadn't a clue. "Dr Cullen is a very good doctor. We're very lucky to have him work here in such a small hospital when he probably has better offers from more prestigious cities."

"Carlisle doesn't like the city life all that much," Hermione said as she stifled a chuckle. What could he possibly hunt in a city? Stray cats and dogs? Rats?

"Well, we've got trees enough around here for sure," Chief Swan replied before his attention was caught by the flashing blue and red lights. "Your ride is here. Would you like me to inform your relatives?"

"No, thank you. I'm sure Carlisle will tell them soon enough. I don't want them to worry over nothing."

Chief Swan frowned but nodded in acceptance and wished her good recovery before stepping aside for the EMTs to do their job. Hermione couldn't bear to think of when the whole vampire family would swarm down on her with all their pampering. The sprain had been bad enough, and that was just from a tumble in the woods. A car accident was going to be a hundred times worse! She would be suffocated by love and kindness. Hermione smiled at the thought though, because she was damn lucky to have them as a surrogate family so far away from her home.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: okay, so I got a whole lot annoyed by some of the comments/reviews left on this fic, and it kind of blew my enjoyment of writing it, but I've been going through all of them again, and realized how many of you were actually **_**enjoying **_**the story. Terribly selfish of me to just give up, so I'll just pick it back up where I left off after this sincere apology to you amazing readers:**

**Sorry!**

Someone must have forewarned Carlisle of her imminent arrival, because he was at the hospital entrance, just an inch shy of the sunlight, when the ambulance pulled in.

"I'm fine," she tried to reassure him, having never seen him so flustered before, his cold fingers dancing frantically over her skull, checking for tenderness.

"I'll be judge of that. I heard you got hit by _a van. _The same one that _almost_ hit Bella Swan."

"Oh," Hermione gasped.

All that yelling in the street made much more sense now. Chief Swan must have been livid that the kid who had almost killed his daughter was at it again so soon. What an odd coincidence. Or maybe it was Death demanding his due, having been deprived of one soul. If she had learned anything from the Tales of Beedle the Bard, it was that Death was a bit of a dick.

"That kid needs driving lessons," she said as he seemed to be an even more atrocious driver than she was.

Carlisle chuckled coldly as he finished checking her over.

"You need X-rays. I think you fell on your sprained foot and damaged it again."

Hermione groaned. The damn thing was never going to heal properly now. If only she had potions… Or could she find the right ingredients in this world? But in order to do that she would need to go gallivanting around the world, and she wouldn't be able to do that with those thrice damned crutches. Why in the world had she learned to heal all manners of cuts, broken bones and curses, but not sprains? They would have looked right down silly if one of them had sprained an ankle or their wand-hand during the horcrux hunt, and lengthened the war by several months because she hadn't learned to heal a stupid _sprain. _

After a more thorough examination, Hermione was diagnosed with a minor concussion too, and the nurses wouldn't let her sleep until she was deemed safe. They were very diligent and kind, suspiciously so, and it's only when Carlisle returned making all the nurses bat their eyelashes at him that Hermione understood why she was being treated like royalty. She couldn't really blame them however since Carlisle did look otherworldly and was the kindest person she knew to boot. Poor mortals didn't stand a chance. In fact, Hermione would bet that if she let her occlumency drop around him, she'd be drooling over the poor vampire just as much. The thought did make her shudder however since she considered him more of a surrogate father, much like he was to all the other "children" of the house.

"Can I leave soon?" she asked him when the nurses had left.

"No," he chuckled. "If _we_ have to pretend to eat normal food, _you _have to pretend to be at least somewhat injured after being hit by a van. There's at least a dozen witnesses of the accident from what I heard."

Hermione wanted to protest, but he had a solid point. She had to keep up the masquerade just as much as they did. Bad enough Edward and Bella had had a miraculous escape from the crash at school, without even a single scratch on either of them, another one would look downright suspicious.

"Are you just going to wrap me in bandages like a mummy then?"

"Of course not. We wouldn't want to overdo it and get that kid in trouble, even if he does seem to deserve it. But we've got a sprain and concussion, maybe we can add a broken arm, just to be thorough?"

"Oh, very well. But just a small one mind. And on my left arm. I don't want to be pampered again."

"I'm afraid you won't be able to avoid the pampering, dear."

"Alice is the one who told you about the accident, didn't she?"

Carlisle nodded with a mischievous smile that seemed out of place on his face, but maybe it was only because he never let himself relax with all the responsibilities weighing on his shoulders.

"Esme is picking up everybody at school to visit. They should be here any second now."

Hermione braced herself for the drama.

Edward deemed her more accident prone than Bella, which, apparently, was saying a lot. Emmett threatened to get her a suit of armor and wrap it around her. Even Rosalie looked a bit worried, which she explained away by her being the only mortal she tolerated. All in all, the visit wasn't so bad, even if her room now looked like a flower shop.

More surprising was that when she had convinced her vampire family to go back home and stop using her mortality as an excuse to skip school, she had another surprise visitor. The flash of copper skin was unmistakable when she saw someone glance around her door.

"Paul?" she called when he didn't enter.

It had looked like him, but it could as well be Sam or Jared she supposed. However, Paul did come into her room, looking a bit sheepish.

"Are you here to visit me, or is this just a happy coincidence?" she asked when he didn't say anything.

A smile lit her face, trying to make him feel more at ease, because she hadn't forgotten he had helped her out the last time by giving her a ride when the others had bolted off.

"I'm just here to check on you, make sure you're still human."

"Why wouldn't I be? Did you think I'd turn into a pumpkin after getting hit by a car?"

Paul shrugged but his lips twisted upwards.

"I'm glad you're okay. Can't you just magic that away, like you did for Billy?"

"Unfortunately not. Billy's wound was a cut which I can heal easily, but I never learned to heal a sprain."

"What about that?" he asked pointing at her arm in the cast.

"Only for show," Hermione replied in a conspiratorial whisper that had him lean in closer. "Carlisle thought two miraculous escapes from car crashes in such a short time would be a bit too unbelievable."

"Uphm. I suppose the leech has a point."

"Don't call him that," she scolded. "Any of them. They're really nice once you get to know them."

Paul wrinkled his nose.

"I really can't do that. You have no idea-"

The door opened, interrupting them and Chief Swan took a couple of steps in before freezing at the sight of Paul.

"Hey, Charlie," the latter greeted easily, before turning to her and whispering: "I'll talk to Billy so you get our side of the story."

Then he was out in a flash with a general goodbye thrown in their direction. That was weird, but Hermione chalked it up to the general Quileute tribe weirdness.

"I see you've already met some of the locals," Chief Swan said still looking between her and the door.

"Yes, just a couple of weeks ago. I… got lost in the woods and that young man helped me find my way back home."

"To the Cullen's?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

Hermione wondered how she had bollocksed up such a simple little lie, and her curiosity just had to know.

"Yes. Why?"

"The people at La Push don't like the Cullens for some reason. They won't even come to the hospital to get basic health care, so I was a bit surprised to see Paul here."

"Oh, well, he only came to visit, I suppose…" but she was astonished the hatred between the two groups ran so deep they would renege on a perfectly good hospital and healthcare. "Where do they go when they get sick or injured?"

"They'd rather drive several dozens of miles out," he replied with an eye roll.

Hermione laughed at his expression because he looked so fond and exasperated at the same time of the tribe's antics. The moment of levity didn't last however. He cleared his throat, his eyebrows drawing together and he was the chief of police once more.

"I'm actually here about the accident. I need to know if you'll be pressing charges."

"On the weather?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, misunderstanding on purpose.

"On the driver. I swear that kid is a menace behind the wheel. My only consolation right now is that he managed to total that lump of metal he calls a van."

"I… No."

"No?"

"I can't really blame the kid when I probably would've hit that patch of ice myself had I been driving." Chief Swan opened his mouth to argue but she cut him off. "And I know it's his second accident this week, and that your daughter was caught in the first, but let's not act in anger and punish him more than he deserves."

She had often done just that when she was younger, and regretted her choices ever since. Umbridge… Well, it was difficult to feel guilt where she was concerned but no woman deserved to be at the mercy of a herd of angry centaurs. However, Hermione had sought out Marietta to apologise and rid her of the residual curse. She had gotten them in trouble, granted, but it didn't deserve a lifelong disfigurement, especially because she had only told on them to protect her family. She'd had many more people to apologise to, and swore to herself never to be so brash and ruthless again. She couldn't let someone do the same mistakes she had.

The chief of police harrumphed, his moustache twitching in discontent, but he nodded, then shuffled awkwardly where he stood.

"In that case, I'll just have a talk with the lad and his parents. You take care," he said gruffly.

"Carlisle will make sure of that. Send a search party for me if he doesn't let me out in a week?"

"Will do," he promised with a lopsided smile before he left, gently closing the door behind him.

She knew he suspected nothing about the Cullens, so it appeared Bella had indeed kept her word, which was quite impressive, if she had to be honest. What Bella had discovered was life-changing, and she was just a teenager. That she had not shared such a huge secret to _anyone_ revealed a lot about her character. Loyal, true to her word, accepting. A true Hufflepuff. Hermione kind of wanted to meet this girl herself now.

The hospital stay was mind-numbingly long. Only when Hermione threatened to make an escape à la Houdini did Carlisle relent and take her back home in his car like a normal human. Esme was then quick to take over the smothering care, but she did it in such a way, it was impossible to get mad at her. Hufflepuffs would be her downfall.

Once she was back home however, she learned Edward was still keeping a very close eye on Bella, day and night, and that wasn't on. She called him out on his behaviour and that if he didn't stop be so stalker, he was going to frighten her off, or worse, make her spill the beans.

"Remember how clingy girls were with you when you were chosen as the school's champion?"

Edward grimaced, which was answer enough.

"Too much?" he asked.

"Too much," she agreed.

"Told you, bro," Emmett seconded, winking at her.

It was nice to have found a Gryffindor to always have her back. And Edward seemed to at least think about it. He didn't disappear all night like he usually did in any case. Maybe she was wrong and Bella would actually be flattered by such an obsession. Who knew? But until Edward could actually share his feelings with the mortal and ask her about going on a date or something more normal, it might be better to err on the safe side with a less creepy attitude.

Because Edward really was in love, the poor guy, and he had it bad. If she had one, Hermione wasn't so anxious to find her own soulmate if it was going to make her look like such a sappy idiot.

So when the day came Edward confessed his feelings to the Swan girl, whatever the others thought, Hermione was glad the two had come clean and confessed not only their feelings, but also the truth to each other. Trying to build something together based on a lie never would have worked, a d now the tek idiots were happy. Hermione knew this because Edward had gone so far as to invite his girlfriend over. What was more surprising was that Bella had agreed to voluntarily walk into a literal vampire nest. She was either very trusting or very foolish. Hermione was just glad she got to meet her since she couldn't very well hand out at school with the other "kids".

Her first impression was that Bella was pretty and shy, but she soon found out she was a hoot, her brand of humour always slightly off was a delight for someone who had grown up watching Monty Python. And the girl was brave. Edward had apparently been brutally honest with her about their nature. To Hermione, a vegetarian vampire wasn't such a big deal, not when she had met bloodthirsty werewolves, soul-sucking dementors and fire-breathing dragons in her own world. But how was this slip of a girl so blasé about the whole thing?

"You're… different," Bella said when Hermione was introduced with the others, then promptly turned beet red and apologised, which made Hermione laugh and wave off her concern.

"Don't worry, you're quite correct. And observant. No, I'm not a vampire."

"So you're just a human, like me?"

"Well, not quite like you," she admitted and since Edward trusted her, so would she. Summoning bluebell flames on the tips of her fingers, she smiled at Bella wide eyes. "I'm a witch."

"I'm sure I should feel more surprised than I am right now…"

"But after vampires…"

"Yeah," Bella agreed. "Makes you wonder what else is out there, right?"

Hermione smiled knowingly since there were actually other fascinating creatures not so far away. With her luck, Bella would meet them too. She reminded her awfully of Harry and his cursed luck in that aspect. Maybe it was a good thing Edward had taken her under his protection. And what were the chances a mind-reader found a mind-blocker?

_Destiny_, she thought with a smile.


	10. Chapter 10

Lunch with Bella had been enjoyable, insomuch as only two of them were actually eating and that she seemed so painfully young compared to immortals and a witch who had gone through more hardships than she cared for. So when the girl left, it prompted some serious discussions to arise between Edward and his family.

First and foremost, what sort of future did he imagine having with her? He was immortal, forever seventeen, and she was seventeen today, but would be old in what was basically the blink of an eye for his kind. That very reason was why Hermione did not wish to keep living with the Cullen, but Edward was obviously head over heels for the young human.

"I won't turn her. I can't do that," he said with finality.

"You _technically _can't? Because I'm sure someone else would do it for you," Hermione asked with a glance at the other vampires.

Rosalie showed her pearly white fangs with enthusiasm. Scary. But Carlisle gave her a small nod of agreement. So her theory was sound, but Edward shook his head.

"You don't understand. It's not just turning her into our species, it's robbing her of her soul."

Hermione blinked at him, sure she must have misunderstood.

"You're kidding, right?"

"I'm not. _You_ more than most know vampires are dark creatures. We're birthed from death. We _are,_ for all intents and purposes, dead. Soulless monsters who feed on blood and live in shadows."

"You think… Oh my God, no. Edward. That is _not_ the essence of a soul. It's not defined by a pulse, your diet, or the ability to sleep. It's not even defined by your actions. Even the vilest, darkest being has a soul. Not a pretty one, granted, but there nonetheless."

"How do you speak of souls with so much certainty?" Carlisle asked her when Edward looked too taken aback to ask for himself.

Hermione bit her lip, not wanting to go into the details of the blood war that had ravaged her world, but she had already said too much by this point, and it appeared Edward needed a serious reality check.

"The Dark Wizard we were up against could not be killed for so long because he had split his soul. Into seven pieces, to be exact. And he had stashed them into other beings, much like a parasite, but also objects which became sentient to some degree. We had to destroy the pieces one by one before we could dispose of the man himself. _He_ was a monster with a tattered, diminished and dark soul, but he still had a soul. I don't know why you would think you don't have one just because the alchemy of your human body evolved. Believe me, Edward, when I say I would feel it if you didn't have a soul."

"I don't know…" he replied, but he wasn't outright opposing her.

"I could cast the killing curse on you," she offered with a raised brow. "If you're so certain you don't have a soul, it won't have any effect on you whatsoever."

Edward chuckled uneasily, but ultimately refused. Not that sure of himself after all. Hermione then explained to the others how the killing curse basically expelled the soul out of a body.

"It would be interesting to test out," Carlisle said in a soft murmur. "Not that I would wish that fate on any other vampire of course, but it would allow us to know once and for all."

Hermione was stunned Carlisle doubted his kind retained their souls and wondered if his beliefs had coloured Edwards opinions on the matter. And Carlisle was basically a Saint. If he didn't have a soul, nobody deserved one.

"Silly vampires," she said fondly. "But please think about it, Edward. You can't lead on Bella if you don't intend to remain with her."

"Of course I intend to remain at her side. I always did. I just thought-"

"What? That she would grow old next to you while you didn't change?" Rosalie mocked. "Do you think any woman would tolerate such a discrepancy? Would she have to lie all her life about who you are? When you're too young to be her husband? Then what? Her younger brother? Her son? Her grandson? Why would you be so cruel to the woman you claim to love?"

"Rose," Esme said softly, trying to calm the angry blond, but she was having none of it.

"No. What he's doing is dangerous and foolish! And… You know him! When the human dies, what do you think this idiot is going to do exactly?"

"Oh," Alice gasped, her eyes going out of focus.

A couple of minutes later she came back to herself, a myriad emotions flickering across her face so fast, Hermione couldn't pick them apart.

"If you don't turn her, I will," Alice said flatly.

A low growl escaped Edward, and Hermione carefully palmed her wand and pushed her chair back, _very_ slowly, just so she had some latitude to fight or flee. But Jasper stood protectively behind his beloved mate and a comforting blanket of utter calm fell over them all. Hermione yawned, apparently more affected than the vampires despite her occlumency shields.

"Fine," Edward snapped, standing from the table. "I will think on it."

He left, no doubt to creep on his girlfriend while she slept again, and the tension at the table suddenly evaporated.

"That… could have gone better," Carlisle said.

"But Hermione is right," Rosalie replied. "He should have thought of this before getting entangled with a mortal. For all his smarts, he's an idiot when it really matters."

"I hate to say this, but I agree with Rosalie," Jasper said, evading the plate the pretty blond threw at his head by an inch.

"What did you see?" Carlisle asked Alice.

"What you suspect. Him going to the Volturis to ask to be put to death."

Hermione was clued in as to who this group of people were and the power they held over their kind. She decided right there and then she would never set foot in Italy.

"He leaves us little choice then," their head of clan said with a sigh. "But let's give him a little time to see reason, alright?"

Another crisis avoided, but tension was running high at the Cullen House, so Hermione decided it was about time to get back to her home hunting. She had grown attached to the area however and was excited to learn there were a couple of place for rent right in town. Esme came along with her to visit them and proceeded to point out every single thing wrong with the places. Hermione knew she was just doing it so she wouldn't leave, but she was glad she had avoided the mold due to infiltrations in the one and the colony of cockroaches in the second.

"There's a house for sale too," Esme said, waving the print out the real estate agent had given them. "Oh, and look at the address. It's quite close to home!"

Hermione certainly believed in coincidences, but Esme was too honest to be a good actress.

"Give me that," she said, snatching the paper from her hands and reading the description. "Much too big. Besides, I don't have that kind of money yet. I guess I'll be staying a bit longer with you."

Esme actually squealed in delight, then hugged her and dragged her to the local diner for a milkshake. Hermione loved the feel of that place. It reminded her of the three broomsticks, and if the owner didn't have Rosmerta's legendary cleavage on show, a couple of the patrons certainly did. The milkshake was delicious, and Esme switched her full drink for Hermione's empty one so fast, she wouldn't have noticed if the flavour wasn't different.

Hermione laughed at her antics, but their good mood soon vanished when they began hearing rumours of giant bears attacking people.

"Should I have gotten that bear spray?" Hermione asked in worry.

"I'm not sure," Esme said with a frown. "Something feels off about those stories. Emmet is the bear expert, but from what I know, that's not normal bear behaviour."

"Something _else_?" Hermione asked in a barely audible whisper wondering whether she was suspecting other wild animals, the shapeshifters or passing non-vegetarian vampires.

"Let's find out."

Apparently, that meant pushing her into the police station to interrogate Chief Swan.

"Hermione has this fixation about going out in the woods to picks herbs and such, so you see why I'm worried about these rumours of bear attacks," Esme was saying sweetly.

Hermione couldn't even hold it against her since it was actually true. She had been exploring the woods closer to the Quilleute Reserve, without crossing the borders however, since magic was more potent over there and she was hoping the Earth had retained enough of it to grow magical plants she needed for potion making. So far, she hadn't had any luck and knew she would have to ask permission to Mr Black to wander the Reserve itself. Chief Swan gave her a dubious look and she guesses it was because she didn't look much like a hiker.

"Those are just rumours. The attacks, I mean. But sightings of large bears have been confirmed so maybe it would be best you did not wander into the Woods alone, Miss Hale."

Hermione nodded, although the Reserve would still be safe, what with the pack of overgrown wolves keeping its borders. Maybe she should get on that. All her other projects had come to a dead extent end after all.

"No attacks. That's a relief," Esme said airily. "I wonder where those rumours came from. Gave us quite a fright."

Hermione noticed the Chief shift in discomfort, then look away as if searching for an excuse to leave.

"There hasn't been any missing people reported, has there?" Hermione asked, knowing the answer already.

She was impressed. Chief Swan was no idiot, but he gave up the pretence when he saw they were not moving.

"I'm telling you only because I know your family is not prone to gossip, Mrs Cullen. I don't want there to be a panic over what could turn out to be nothing at all."

"I understand," Esme nodded. "I'm just worried for the children. They're often out camping and hiking as you know."

"Yes, well… We found an abandoned car near a hiking trail. It doesn't mean the owners have gone missing, but we cannot get in contact with them either and the car has been parked there for at least five days. We're trying to track down their friends and families as we speak."

"Oh, my," Esme gasped. "We should leave you to it then."

Charlie nodded gratefully, then gave her a once over that would have made her blush if his gaze didn't linger on where she had been injured after being hit by the van.

"I'm glad to see you recovered well from the accident, Miss Hale."

"First responders in this town are quite efficient," she returned, which made his moustache twitch in amusement before he turned to leave.

"Quite charming, that police officer," Esme said as they left.

"Bit young for you, Esme," Hermione teased, knowing full well what she was trying to do.

Mr Swan was quite handsome, and nice, but she was not going to lust after the father of her school friend's girlfriend. That didn't seem quite right and would cause more trouble than they already had on their hands.

"I just don't want you to end up an old spinster, Hermione. And eligible bachelors around here are hard to find."

"I'm hardly _old_, Esme. Besides, there's still a chance my friends from the other side find me here. I don't think it's wise to start a relationship with anyone on this side."

Esme didn't seem upset by the idea she might leave contrary to what she had expected. In fact, she was smiling and humming on their way to the car as if she had won the argument. It was much later that day as they had dinner around the table, sharing their day and laughing together that Hermione realized she had already created many other bonds with people in this world. People she considered friends and family. People she would be heartbroken to say goodbye bye to forever.

Just like Edward, she had to decide what she wanted to do with her future. Wait around forever in case her people managed to reach across the anomaly and bring her back, or start a life of her own here. Thinking those two options were not mutually exclusive had been stupid on her part.


	11. Chapter 11

Hermione apparated near the entrance to the Quilleute reserve of La Push, then walked right up to the border, feeling it buzz right in front of her nose. She had waited for a mere minute before Sam, the largest of the shifters, appeared before her in human form, and thankfully wearing pants this time.

"Hello, witch. We did not expect to see you around here again. Did the leeches tire of you?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, but kept in check the retort that wanted to roll out in defense of her adoptive family.

"Not at all. I wish to ask for an audience with Mr Black."

Sam frowned.

"What for?"

Hermione eyed him for a few seconds. He didn't seem opposed to the idea, merely confused, and since he was the pack's Alpha, he would know about her query sooner or later, whether it was accepted or not.

"I want to ask permission to cross the border into your territory to study and maybe pick some plants growing on your lands."

He looked, if anything, even more confused, but he gestured at her to follow him. Hermione gingerly took a step forward, the ancient wards like a tickle against her magic. Chief Black's cabin was… not what she expected. Small, cramped, and not wheelchair-friendly apart from the small ramp leading up to his doorway, but he was cordial and invited her and Sam right in, both making use of the rickety chairs in the living room.

"Plants? For medicine?"

"Potions, I'm hoping. They're very useful for a whole array of injuries, but for that, I need to find plants that have magical properties, and so far, I haven't found any outside your borders."

"So they're very valuable, these plants," Chief Black said shrewdly.

"They are," Hermione admitted, taken aback at the man's apparent greed.

However, if she did find magical plants, they would truly be invaluable to her. She was no Neville when it came to herbology, but she knew the basics, so she could make cuttings from the plants and grow her own batch in her own magical environment in due time. That way, she wouldn't be dependant on the Reserve's ressources, but she needed to take that first step, and she would have to meet his price, whatever it was. She would have to take advantage of the Cullen's generosity once more, but she _would_ pay them back.

"Your price?" she asked when the old man just smirked at her from his wheelchair, knowing full well he had the upper hand.

"As you know my tribe cannot go to the town's hospital since the Cullen returned to town." Hermione nodded, wondering where he was going with this. "And you're a healer."

She shook her head this time.

"I'm no healer," she laughed off with a wave of her hand.

"But you have the capacity to be one. You have healing spells. You know healing potions."

"Yes, but-"

"You need the plants, we need a healer."

He offered his hand, waiting.

"But I have no formal training," she tried once more, but the hand remained.

It was too good an offer to refuse though. She would get access to the ressources she needed, she would be useful to a community who apparently accepted witches as a matter of fact, and it would finally give her a purpose, if not a real, paid job. The tribe was small enough though, and she could always find another part time job nearby.

Mind made up, she gave his hand an confident shake, and Chief Black's face broke into a happy grin.

"Welcome to La Push, Miss Granger."

"Ah. It's Miss Hale now, actually. There's another me running around in Florida."

Black gave her a strange look.

"Miss Hale, then. Sam, could you take her to the old cabin by the Clearwaters, see if she can make use of it to set up a practice? Then you can let word get around a healer will be available soon. I know Harry and Maggy have been meaning to go to a doctor's for a while. I think Logan's wife is pretty far along too."

Hermione appreciated the term healer rather than witch as it would be better accepted by the locals and wouldn't scare the children. It sounded like she would not be running out of work either. Sam walked her to another wooden cabin in the middle of town with a weathered old sign. Narrowing her eyes at the old paint peeling of it, she could barely make out the words witch-doctor with a symbol beneath it she had never seen before.

"I take it magic won't be a problem to the people around here."

"Some more than most. It's in our culture, but unless you are healing the families of one of our pack, keeping the firework display on the downlow might be a good idea."

"Alright then. So there's you and Emily. Paul and that other guy? I don't think I ever got his name."

"Paul Lahote and his father. Jared, his parents and sister, and his girlfriend. Billy, of course, but not his son," he added with a grimace. "Harry Clearwater and his wife, but not their children. Those will already know about you and will not fear you. For the others, I trust you to use your judgement."

Hermione was surprised the man would even trust her to stay out of his sight, what with the unfortunate way they had met, but it looked like Black's word was enough around here.

The healer's hut could use a deep clean and a few repairs here and there, but nothing her wand couldn't take care off, although to his credit, Sam did offer his help.

"I think I can handle it," Hermione said as she cast a _reparo _at the hole in the floorboards. He raised an eyebrow and Hermione cast a wind charm that had all the accumulated dust inside fly out the door in one burst.

"Alright," he said with a cough. "You know where to find me if you need anything."

Hermione smiled at his retreating back. He wasn't so bad after all. She sang out of tune as she worked on making the hut somewhat safe and sterile, as well as making sure a wheelchair could navigate the place without bumping into every piece of furniture and wall. And if it meant she had to cheat a bit with the dimensions, making the hut bigger on the inside, she was sure no one would notice. It was just a feet or so, on each side. Barely noticeable.

Once that was done, Hermione transfigured the old sign into something less ominous. Renewing the symbol, she simply changed witch-doctor into healer and called it done. All she needed now was ingredients for her potions. She had found a basket and rusty knife in the hut, which gave her hope she would find the right herbs. Turning on herself, she found a break in the treeline near Black's cottage and headed there, deciding it was as good a place to start as any.

And she needn't go far. She had just been wandering around for ten minutes when she discovered tinker leaves, except they were an unusual blood red colour instead of the pastel green she was used to. She would have discarded it as not being the same plant at all if they weren't similar in every other way. She unearthed a couple, transfiguring clay pots to carry them in, realising she would have to study their properties first before using them. She then found blue moongrass close to a clearing, wondering if she should pot the grass like she did the tinker leaves or propagate their roots in water. With a sigh, she wished Neville was here. First because he would be over the moon to find a new variety of plant, second because he would know exactly how to collect and multiply the magical plants. She hadn't counter on finding cousin varieties of the plants sh nwas used to.

"Hey, hello. Are you lost?"

Hermione spun around, the rusted knife pointed towards the intruder who put his hands up immediately. It was just a young boy with long hair however. A local, obviously, so she apologised and dropped the knife into her basket.

"Sorry. You startled me. And no, I'm not lost," she looked around, realising the small animal trail she had been following had disappeared from sight. "Or I didn't think I was."

The young man laughed.

"Can I get you back somewhere. I know the woods around here like the back of my hand."

Hermione glanced at her basket. She already had two specimens to study and care for. She didn't want to overdo it. Not to mention she needed to stick on more mundane ingredients now that she knew she would actually be able to brew potions.

"Back to La Push? I'm the new healer. Hermione Hale," she said, extending a hand and hoping he had already heard the rumour.

"Oh. You? But you're…"

He trailed off and looked at his feet.

"I hope you weren't going to comment on my gender."

"More like you being a foreigner. Dad didn't mention you were-" he gestured at his face.

"British?"

"Not a Quilleute. Or any other tribe for that matter. It's… unusual."

"Not the first time I'll stick out like a sore thumb. Don't worry, I'm used to it."

The young man chuckled and offered his hand this time.

"Sorry. I'm Jacob Black. It's nice to have you here. We could use a doctor on the Reserve."

"Healer," Hermione corrected, shaking his hand anyway.

"So you're like… a nurse?"

Hermione shrugged with a mischievous smile.

"You'll have to be sick to find out."

"I'm never sick," Jacob laughed and pointed towards a large tree which had been hiding her trail. They walked back to his cottage but he insisted on carrying her basket to the old hut. Once there, his mouth fell open.

"How… It wasn't like this this morning! How did you…"

"I have my ways."

A shout had them turn around. Hermione immediately recognized Paul, running shirtless once more despite the temperatures. She wouldn't mind wearing a second jumper herself. Hermione waved at him, happy to see the shape shifter again because she hadn't had a chance to since the hospital.

"How do you know Paul?" Jacob hissed at her.

"Funny story, actually. Seems I get lost in the woods a lot."

The look the teenage boy gave her was hilarious, and she bit her lip not to laugh out right.

"Hermione! I came as soon as I heard. Are you really going to be our healer?"

"Yep. Chief Black blackmailed me into it."

Jacob sputtered next to her.

"Awesome! I'll get Jared to beat the crap out of me so you can heal me. Shouldn't be too hard."

"That's really not the point," Hermione laughed. "Besides, I don't think I'll open shop before next week."

"But you'll be around?"

"I'll be around," she promised, watching him run off. It looked like he had too much energy and could never keep in place.

"Are you two dating?" Jacob asked, not bothering to hide his disgust at the thought.

"Not that it's any of your business, young man, but no."

"Sure looks like _he's _flirting with you," he muttered. "You shouldn't hang around him and his gang. They're dangerous."

"Oh, I'm sure they can be if they want to be. And I doubt Paul is flirting with me. I could be- well, maybe not his mother… but he's far too young."

"Really. Aren't you like twenty five or something?"

"Add on a decade, and you're near enough."

That was the trouble about being a witch. She didn't age quite at the same rhythm as her muggle counterparts. Who knows, maybe in another decade or so, she _could_ date Paul. When he didn't remind her so much of an excitable puppy.

"Wow. And I thought my family had good genes," Jacob chuckled, then he spotted a couple of his friends and he returned her basket to her before running off to meet them. The Quilleutes sure had a lot of energy. She was exhausted just looking at them run all over the place.

Once her plants were put in their new home, a small greenhouse she transfigured on the front porch, Hermione sat next to it to make a list of what she needed to buy in town. Lists were her favourite thing to do and it was so nice having a new project, something to fill her days with purpose.


	12. Chapter 12

"You what? You're going to help those stinking mutts?" Rosalie seethed.

Hermione gave her a nonplussed glance and shrugged. She didn't understand why she still had such an aversion to the shapeshifters when they had an agreement to live in peace, but she supposed it was the same for the tribe back at La Push, given how they refused to go to the nearby hospital, either going miles out of their way to another hospital, or giving up on healthcare entirely. She had managed to keep her new job at the reserve quiet for a few days while she shopped around for common ingredients, glass bottles, something resembling a cauldron… it was harder than she had imagined.

"I think it's a very good idea," Carlisle said. "But I trust you'll come to me if you find yourself out of your depth."

"Of course. I did warn Chief Black I have no formal training. All I learned is through books, helping in the infirmary, and when I was put on the spot during the war. I'm just hoping to help with scrapes and colds to be honest."

"I'm sure you'll do fine," Esme added with a light touch to her arm.

Deciding to change the subject, and hoping to put Rosalie in a better mood by not mentioning the Quileutes, Hermione asked where Edward was.

"With his pet. Where else?" Rosalie muttered.

"Edward is being introduced to Mr Swan tonight, over dinner," Alice explained.

"Dinner? How is he going to…eat?" Hermione wondered aloud.

"You don't want to know," Emmet guffawed.

"Why he would subject himself to it, I'll never understand," Rosalie muttered.

"It's love, baby. Can't fight love," Emmet told her as he embraced his mate in one of his famous bear-hugs.

Rosalie swatted him away and huffed, fluffing her hair back to perfection, but she had a small smile playing around her lips.

_Such an odd couple_, Hermione thought, not for the first time.

"Does that mean he's taken a decision concerning Bella?"

"He's says there's no need to rush for now, that whatever happens, he wants her to finish high school first," Carlisle said.

Hermione thought that was a smart idea actually. Bella could close one page of her life and begin her new life as an adult. The age gap between the two lovers would be minimal too. Invisible. It could be a perfect solution… if Edward went through with it. He had still seemed too reluctant the last time she had seen him.

"But I see Bella as one of us," Alice added. "My visions haven't changed."

"That's... good," Hermione said uncertainly.

It did mean Bella would die and lose her humanity after all, even if it also meant she would become an immortal. But if it's what the young woman wanted, who was she to judge? Stranger couples happened all the time in the wizarding world. Just look at Hagrid's parents, or Professor Flitwick's. Maybe she should remind Edward if that fact since he was so worried about turning her.

A couple if days later, Hermione was ready to open shop. She was as excited as her first day at Hogwarts or the day she started at the Ministry. She had purpose once more, although, she didn't know what to expect from the people living in the reserve. She was a stranger after all. However, when she opened her door after having set up everything inside that morning, she found an older man waiting patiently outside.

"Oh! Hello!" Hermione chirped. "Are you here for a consultation?"

"Yes. I'm fine, but my wife made me come," he said, pointing at a scowling woman, arms crossed standing in front of the next doors house.

"We're neighbours?" she asked with a chuckle, leading the man inside so her wife would stop glaring daggers at him.

"Yes. I'm Harry Clearwater. That was my wife Maggy. She worries too much," he said with a huff, sounding as find as he was irritated.

"Just proves how much she loves you. I think chief Black mentioned you would be dropping by, too."

"He worries too much, too."

"Another wife of yours?" Hermione teased, which got him laughing.

They went over his medical history though and Hermione thought everyone had good reasons to worry. After asking him to unbutton his shirt she used a stethoscope she modified to be more efficient, then went around him and cast a magic diagnosis spell which shimmered between them. Hermione was quite worried about the state of his heart and told him to take it easy and lay off foods high in salt and fat. She would be using the memory to have Carlisle's advice on his condition however and would try to brew a muscle strengthening potion with the ingredients she had managed to gather.

When Mr Clearwater left, a mother accosted him with her toddler in tow. Hermione looked on curiously because they were obviously talking about her, and a minute later, the mother approached her, holding her child in her arms.

"Can I help you with something?" Hermione asked because she looked shy.

"My son fell from his high chair yesterday. I thought he was fine, but this morning, the little bump he had looks worse."

She pushed back a lock of shiny black hair on his forehead and he did have an impressive dark, hard bump on display. Hermione invited her inside and told her to sit the little boy on the table. She was glad she had passed into this dimension with her small pot of bruise paste. She always had one on her, as well as one of murtlap essence, simply because they was so damn useful on a day to day basis, especially with friends like Harry and Ron. Her back turned, she turned a sheet of paper on her desk into a small bear toy and handed it to him to distract him from the paste she applied to his forehead. The swelling visibly went down and the mother's eyes went wide in shock. She became, if anything, even more shy and tight-lipped, although she did thank her warmly as she left. At the door, she had two more patients waiting to see her. She grinned, feeling like she was exactly where she was supposed to be.

"You smell if wet dog," Rosalie said that night when she returned to the Cullen house.

Hermione just rolled her eyes at the blond and went upstairs for a shower. She didn't blame her, because vampires did have an uncannily sharp sense of smell, but it did revive her desire to search for a new place to call home.

"Could I ask your advice for a patient, Carlisle?" she asked when she was done eating the dinner Esme had prepared for her.

"Of course," he agreed, leading her to his office. "What is the problem?"

"It would be easier if I could show you."

Hermione put the tip of her wand to her temple, concentrating on the memory of the magical charts she had conjured behind Harry Clearwater. Pensieves had fallen out of fashion after the war when George had created a new spell to be able to see memories of his brother more easily. It wasn't an easy spell, mind, but Hermione had made a point of learning it since it was so useful.

The silver strand of memory followed the tip of her wand as she cast George's spell, then it expanded into a rectangle that always reminded Hermione of a telly screen. A final flick of her wand and the memory played in front of them.

"Oh," Carlisle breathed out. "Amazing."

He leaned forward as he scanned the magical chart, asking clarifications about a few magical symbols, then inspected the x-ray like vision of his heart, before giving his medical opinion. It was a bad as she had feared. Mr Clearwater could literally drop dead from a heart attack any day. Carlisle would have prescribed him an array of pills, but he actually pushed her to try the potions she had in mind first.

"He is after all of magical descent," Carlisle said. "Lives in a magical environment. I think he would react better to a treatment that is magical in nature rather than modern medicine. Not to mention he might actually follow your recommendations. Mine, on the other hand…"

Hermione nodded, but the responsibility did worry her.

"I'll give him regular checkups. If his condition doesn't improve, I'll kidnap him if necessary to get him to a hospital.'

Carlisle chuckled.

"Looks like the wolves have met their match."

"Feels like I have two nagging wives now," Mr Clearwater muttered when Hermione dropped by his house for the fourth time since she had become the reserve's official healer.

"Now, now, Mr Clearwater. You're making me walk all the way here because you didn't show up for your appointment."

The man chuckled since she literally only had ten steps to take to be at his door. Hermione also knew he hadn't bothered because by his second visit, after she had made him the muscle strengthening potion, he had already been feeling much better. They still had to work on getting his weight down however.

"Maybe I should just find you a husband to keep you busy elsewhere, eh?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Hermione scoffed. "I'm married to my work."

"But you're so young!" his wife exclaimed. "We're having a gathering tonight. Why don't you join us? There will be plenty of young bachelors attending."

"I'm really not all that young, Mrs Clearwater!" Hermione protested, fearing she was trying to set her up with Paul.

Several people on the reserve seemed to be under the impression they were dating, and she blames Paul for that, because true to his word, he had showed up three times already at her door with scrapes that were healing faster on their own than she could with healing spells, and no amount of threats would cure him of his idiocy. She did accept the invitation however, but only so she could introduce herself to those who had been too shy up to then to cross her threshold.

She was glad she had decided to stay. The people here reminded her a lot of the Weasleys. They were warm and rambunctious, a tight-knit group which willingly shared what little they had. They also liked to eat. A lot. Hermione gawked at the sheer amount of food piled next to the fire pit: fish, sausages and other meat she couldn't identify but guessed must be gale from the forest, cakes of all size and colour, but also large bags of junk food and coolers full of beer. She was looking around, hoping to find a bottle of wine or liquor to warm her from the inside against the chilly wind that howled in from the sea. She had never stayed here this late and had not expected such a drop in temperature.

"Miss Hale?"

Hermione turned around, surprised to recognize the voice, but not expecting to find the man it belonged to around here.

"Sheriff Swan? I hope nobody's in trouble?"

She didn't think so because he was wearing jeans and a checkered shirt even if he did have his sheriff jacket over the casual attire.

"Not unless you are. I didn't know you were familiar with the reserve?"

He looked truly puzzled. Not that she blamed him since the rift between the Quileutes and the Cullens was not a secret, even amongst those who didn't know about the supernatural reasons behind it. Now that she thought about it, Hermione didn't know how it had all started either, having put it on the count of their respective species natural dislike for one another, a bit like cats and dogs.

"Charlie!" boomed another voice.

Mr Clearwater near bowled the poor Sheriff over. He really was feeling a lot better, but she was now considering lowering the dose of the strengthening potion.

"I see you've met my miracle worker. Damn, and I wanted to be the one to introduce you two," he said, winking at her.

Hermione blushed beet red. This is who the Clearwaters had had in mind when they had told her to find herself a nice young man tonight? Not that she minded, but seeing they were about as subtle as a brick, she was sure to embarrass herself into oblivion in front of the handsome officer.

"You're a few weeks too late, old man. I met Miss Hale not long after she arrived in town."

"And you still haven't asked her out?" Mr Clearwater asked with a laugh, clapping his friend on the back with such force he stumbled forward. "And you call _me_ an old man?"

Hermione used the distraction to slip away, needing that glass of wine more than ever. She found refuge with Emily who handed her a hot dog. Hermione accepted it with a shrug. It would warm her for now. Maybe it would make her thirsty enough to drink some beer.

More people gathered around the large bonfire the darker it got. Hermione was introduced to several people she had never even seen around La Push and she had secured a few home visits for those who had difficulties walking around. She was planning what potions she would need to brew next to help alleviate sore joints, poor blood circulation, and arthritis when a woolly blanket fell around her shoulders.

"You looked cold," Sheriff Swan said with a shrug when she looked up at him with wide eyes, then he handed her a beer. "May I?" he added with a shift of his head at the log she was sitting on.

"Of course," she said, shifting over. "And thanks. I really was cold. I would have dressed more appropriately, but I was literally invited at the last minute."

"By Harry?" he asked, settling next to her, their knees brushing.

She nodded.

"And his wife. I swear you can't say no to those two once they've put their mind to something."

The Sheriff smiled, staring into the flames.

"He looks much better. Harry. I was worried for a while, but… he said you were working on the reserve as a nurse?"

Hermione chuckled. Count on Mr Clearwater to find a reasonable explanation.

"Yes. Chief Black asked me to work here while I study and gather plants on the reserve."

"Plants?" he asked sceptically.

"There are plants growing around here which are quite potent, you know. They're invaluable."

"You mean you're working for free?"

"For plants," she chuckled. "Nothing illegal, Sheriff, I assure you."

His moustache twitched in amusement. He would probably assume she didn't need the money anyway since she was a Cullen.

"Regardless, it's nice of you to help out. Everyone seems to think very highly of you."

"Why? Have you been asking around about me, Sheriff?"

She hoped he wasn't actually suspicious of her sudden appearance and activities.

"I didn't have to," he chuckled. "Not much happens on the reserve, so you're quite the topic of discussion tonight."

Hermione looked up in surprise, and sure enough people were glancing their way not so subtly. Was the whole tribe playing matchmaker tonight? She had half a mind to sabotage their plans just for the heck of it, but Sheriff Swan was as charming as the first impression she'd had of him. Even Esme agreed on that point.

"Do they have these gatherings often?" she asked, hoping to take the discussion away from herself.

"About once a month. Bella was here last time with Jacob, but they seemed to have had a falling out since."

"Kids," Hermione replied, recalling all the drama at Hogwarts. "They'll make up soon enough, don't worry."

"Do you have kids?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"Never found the right partner. And I was a bit of a workaholic, to be honest, so it was never a priority."

"Is that why you came to Forks? I mean, it's a nice little town, but it's not exactly bustling with activity, and I'd know."

She chuckled and drank a sip of beer as she thought of how best to answer. She didn't want to lie more than necessary to him, because she actually enjoyed his company, and building a friendship on lies would only end in disaster.

"No. I visited my cousins quite by accident, but I have to admit I fell a bit in love with the place.'

"With Forks?" he asked with evident disbelief.

She smiled brightly.

"Of course. It's beautiful," she said with a wave of her hand in front of them, at the view of the sandy beach, white under the full moon, of the waves crashing lazily a few feet away, of the giant pine trees peaking all around them like silent sentries. "There's an ancient sort of magic in the air around here that drew me in."

"And it won't let go?" he asked knowingly.

She shook her head ruefully, realising how much she would miss this place if Harry suddenly appeared to take her back home. It seemed bleak compared to the natural beauty around her. Even the wilds of Scotland surrounding Hogwarts had never felt as vibrant as the air around her here.

"Not everyone sees it," he said. "Most only see a boring little country town that doesn't have much to offer. I guess it's true, at that. It really depends on what you're looking for…"

They contemplated the view in companionable silence until the elders of the tribe began telling legends to a captive audience, young and old alike. Oral tradition, as she had suspected, having found very little about the tribe when she had researched them on the internet. Hermione felt quite honoured to have been invited to the gathering and listened avidly to the tale. To her surprise, it was about the three Black witches Carlisle had mentioned, the very same who had cast a ward to protect the reserve from intruders. From the legend they told, their magic was quite different from her own as the three witches were said to use stone and bones to cast their spells while Hermione essentially used wood, if you counted her wand, and plants for her potions. Magic comes in many forms, the elders said at last before singing in a language she did not know, but which lulled her into sleep, wrapped in the warm blanket near the dying flames.


	13. Chapter 13

A gentle shake of her shoulder woke Hermione up with a start. For a second, she couldn't recall where she was, or even when, but waking up outside, under the twinkling stars, put her right back to her time on the run, so she scanned the area for a threat out of habit, ready to run for it, until she locked eyes with Sheriff Swan.

"I didn't mean to startle you," he said softly. "You fell asleep, and I didn't want to leave you there. Are you alright?"

"Yes," she said, forcing a smile on her lips. "I can't believe I fell asleep…" she trailed off, the dream she just had eluding her like sand between her fingers.

Knowing it was a losing battle trying to recall it, she stood, pulling the blanket around her.

"I'd better get home. Esme worries when I'm out late," she said, wondering where she could disapparate from without making too much noise.

"I'll walk you to your car," the Sheriff offered. "The path isn't well lit from here."

Hermione winced, thinking fast.

"Edward dropped me off, actually. I'll just call home to have one of them pick me up."

"Nonsense. It's late. I'll drop you off."

It wouldn't be too much out of his way, and it would be easier than thinking up some other excuse to apparate back home so Hermione agreed. In true gentleman fashion, he offered her his arm, so she looped her arm around it. A lovely end to a lovely evening. That is, until she noticed a wet patch on his sleeve at shoulder height. It didn't take a genius to guess how that had happened.

"Oh my God! Did I fall asleep _drooling_ on you?"

He glanced down at her with crinkled eyes. He was probably laughing his head off inside.

"It's okay. I had a Newfoundland years ago who used to do it all the time."

"That makes me feel so much better," she groused, not sure how to take being compared to a giant, slobbery dog. "But I am sorry. I don't usually fall asleep on people I barely know."

"Well, you can call me Charlie if it makes you feel any better."

She rolled her eyes.

"Only marginally. I'll feel better if you leave your coat with me so I can get it cleaned."

"That's not necessary. Besides I'll be needing it tomorrow. How will people know who upholds the law around here without it?"

Hermione laughed. As if the whole town didn't know who he was, and every other detail of his life. Small town life had its downside compared to a city like London where one could become invisible without using magic. In fact, Hermione was surprised to see how well she fit in, not to mention a whole coven of vampires.

"I'll hand it back to you tomorrow morning in person, first thing in the morning at the station, I promise," Hermione bargained.

All she needed to do was cast one little spell on the jacket after all. Charlie's eyebrows rose slightly as he glanced down at her.

"It's a deal," Charlie finally said as he opened the passenger door to his patrol car.

Hermione sat, inspecting all the extra equipment found in a police car while Charlie walked back to the driver's side.

"You know how to get there?" she asked.

"I know where everyone lives," Charlie replied with a chuckle.

"That would sound very creepy coming from anyone else, you know."

Charlie laughed again, the sound warming her heart.

"Harry was right about you," he said.

"What did the old man say now?"

The man was the tribe's worse gossip, she had come to find out, which was fine when it helped her find out who needed medical attention, but much less fun when he was telling Merlin knows what about her.

"He said the reserve was never boring with you around. I'm starting to see why."

The silence stretched between them while Hermione was too struck dumb to come up with an answer. She had considered herself useful to the tribe, which she enjoyed. She didn't think the Quileutes actually _liked_ having her there too. Charlie cleared his throat.

"Maybe you should visit Forks more often too."

Hermione looked at him, his eyes staring straight ahead as he drove on the dark winding roads. Had that been a roundabout way to ask her out?

"Well, I'll be at the station in the morning. Is there a place to get coffee around there? Good coffee, mind. Our Quileute friends can't make a decent coffee to save their lives."

Charlie smiled brightly, his eyes still on the road, which she was glad for so he couldn't see how relieved she must have looked. She wasn't very good at all this flirting business, but it seemed they were on the same track.

"Actually, there is. Two doors down. We could meet there instead of the station?"

They convened of a meeting hour just as Charlie pulled up in the Cullen's driveway, the gravel crunching under their tires and the floodlights blinding them.

"What the-" Charlie muttered, a hand coming up to cover his eyes from the harsh light.

Hermione sighed as she unbuckled her seatbelt.

"Esme put them up so I wouldn't fall going out at night. She's a bit… overprotective."

"A bit," Charlie scoffed before his eyes narrowed on her. "Do you fall a lot? It does happen to be how we met…"

"I didn't fall, I was run over." But she had slipped on the ice just then, unable to magic herself out of the way. I'm just not used to the terrain around here," she conceded.

To her dismay, Charlie undid his seatbelt and opened his door.

"I'll walk you back," he declared.

Hermione looked between him and the few feet to the front door, a ridiculously small distance to cover, but it didn't look like he was joking. The floodlights cut off as suddenly as they had switched on, giving Hermione enough courage to reach over to pull his door close.

"Please don't. I'm certain my cousins are spying on us through the windows and I won't live it down if they start teasing me about needing an escort home."

Charlie glanced at the dark windows, then back at her, seeming unconvinced.

"Trust me," she added and he relented.

"Sorry," he grumbled. "I guess I'm a bit overprotective too. Comes with the badge…"

"It's fine," she replied, waving off his concerns. It was rather sweet, if she had to be honest, and if she was living in her own place, she would have encouraged him to walk her to the door, then maybe push him inside and have her wicked way with him.

Hermione put that thought on hold, trying not to blush as she felt very hot all of a sudden.

"Your coat?" she reminded him.

Charlie tried to tell her it was unnecessary once more, but he didn't seem very good at winning arguments, poor man, and she finally exited the car with her prize under her arm, waving the charming Sheriff goodbye before walking back towards those damn floodlights.

As soon as she stepped inside, the lights in the living room turned on, six vampires staring at her with various degrees of amusement.

Hermione froze on the spot, feeling like a little girl who had broken curfew. They might be older by decades and centuries, but they sure were more childish than she had ever been.

"Don't you have anything better to do?" Hermione asked, deciding an attack was the best defense.

"Nope," Emmett said with a grin.

"We literally don't," Rosalie added. "So your little fling with the mortal will have to suffice. I see you already got him undressed, that was fast."

The blond pointed at the Sheriff's jacket she was clutching in her arms like a safety blanket.

"It's not that! I offered to clean it." Rosalie smirked. "I drooled on it…" Hermione tried to explain, but only got more amused chuckles from them.

"Merlin, get your minds out of the gutters. I only fell asleep on him!"

Emmett laughed the louder, but they were all ready to gang up on her. With a huff, Hermione gave up trying to get them to understand it was all quite innocent, and stomped up to her room. Vampires had dirty, dirty minds. Maybe they would all get a leg over during the night, and they could have an intelligent conversation by morning.

After Hermione got ready for bed, she picked up the heavy jacket she had left on her bed and cast the cleaning charm on the patch of dry drool she had made, satisfied to see it completely disappear. She was about to hang it up on the desk chair for the night when she realised how much it smelled good, like Charlie, or at least, his aftershave. Her heart skipped a beat, and after only a slight hesitation, she hugged the thick jacket. It was almost like getting a real hug from a real person. She sighed, then let go of it. How pathetic was she for human contact that this was the next best thing?

Her vampire family was well and good, but they still felt like stone statues. She was not yet close enough with the tribe at La Push to be in the hugging zone either. And she loved to hug.

She missed Harry terribly in that instant, but she pushed the maudlin thought aside. The longer she was here, the less likely it was he would find her.

She needed to get her life back in hand, make her own happiness, and she had a feeling the first step in that direction was her coffee date with Charlie the next day.

"Charlie!" Hermione called as she walked up the street, waving at the man pacing in front of the coffee shop he had promised was there.

Charlie froze and he turned towards her, but a grin bloomed across his face when he saw her.

"Miss Hale," he replied.

Hermione frowned, wondering if she had read the situation wrong after all.

"You never actually told me I could call you Hermione," he pointed out, smiling at her confusion.

"Of course you can," she said, rolling her eyes. "I would think that was a given."

"Women are a mystery to me," he said, and he looked quite serious about that assertion.

A gust of wind caught them in the early morning chill and Charlie shivered.

"Oh," Hermione exclaimed as she handed him back his jacket. "Sorry. Seems I didn't think my idea through. Here, put it on or you'll catch a chill."

Charlie wrapped himself in it, and checked the sleeve where she had drooled.

"If nursing doesn't work out, I think the cleaner's is hiring."

Hermione imagined spending her day vanishing various stains with a single spell day after day and shuddered at the mind numbing task.

"I think I'm good. I haven't managed to kill off Mr Clearwater yet."

Charlie chuckled, saying the old man would bury them all, then put a hand at the small of her back as he guided her in to the coffee shop. It was more of a all in one restaurant, pub, coffee shop by the looks of it. There was even an old jukebox in the corner as well as a dart game and kid toys in the back. Hermione liked the familial, laid back atmosphere to the place which immediately put her at ease. They were barely seated by the window when a waitress greeted Charlie warmly before eyeing her with open curiosity.

For her part, Hermione loved being no one. Anonymity was the one thing she missed having after the wizarding war. She had sometimes escaped to the Muggle world just for that reason, but fans and reporters had taken to following her there too, and after a few incidents where aurors and obliviators had to be called, she had given up that little piece of normalcy too.

Once they had warm, fragrant cups of coffees cradled between their hands, and the waitress had stopped trying to eavesdrop on them, they gave up on small talk.

"Small town," Charlie said fondly.

"Subtlety is definitely not their strong suit," Hermione agreed.

"Speaking off, were all your cousins really at the windows last night?"

"All of them," she replied with aggravation. "Even Carlisle, and here I thought he was the reasonable one in the family."

"He does seem that way at the hospital." His moustache twitched. "So the teasing was pretty bad?"

"I ignored them last night and escaped this morning before they could interrogate me. They're insufferable." In truth, she had apparated straight out of her bedroom to the edge of town, politeness be damned. "I really need to find a place of my own to rent before they drive me bonkers."

"I'm surprised they didn't offer a place at the reserve," Charlie said. "They have a few empty homes. Of course, they would need a bit of work, they're probably falling apart, but I'm sure the boys would help you out."

"They have, actually…" she grimaced. "But with their dislike of my family…"

"Ah," Charlie groaned with a frown as he realised the problem. "Yeah, I guess they wouldn't be allowed to visit."

"Which could be a blessing some days," Hermione said, trying to lighten the mood, before deciding to change the subject entirely to move away from the supernatural feuding.

"So you haven't dated much, I take it, if women are still a mystery to you?" Hermione asked, although she found it a bit hard to believe for such a handsome man.

The waitress, for one, sure looked like she would like to sink her teeth in him. If she batted her eyelashes any more at Charlie, she might fly away.

"To be honest, after my divorce, I didn't feel like going through it all again, so I focused on my work instead."

Hermione smiled as she had followed a very familiar path, except she had never married and simply dove into work to avoid the rest of the world and she told him as much.

"You don't strike me as a hermit," Charlie said with obvious surprise.

Hermione tried to find a good way to explain why she had become one against her will, without giving away she was a war hero, but not wanting to lie too much either. She wondered if she shouldn't just come clean with the man and tell him she was a witch when his radio went off. With a crooked smile full of apology he listened then replied to the dispatcher's call.

"Bears? Again? Are they sure?"

"Who knows? They sure look panicked enough. Whatever it was, it was big."

Charlie sighed and replied he would check it out.

"Sorry about this," he told her.

"It's fine," she reassured him. "Workaholic, remember?" she said, gesturing at herself. "Be careful."

Charlie's eyes crinkled at her words. Then he stood, called at the waitress to put it on his tab, and left in a hurry. Hermione felt suddenly very alone, but worried too. Bears? So close to town when there was a gigantic lush forest for miles around? Unlikely. But she knew of several other very big, furry animals who roamed close by and she was determined to find out whether they'd had a good reason to ruin a perfectly good date.


End file.
